By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
It was nearly two years ago that then-Landis Police Chief Charles Childers was arrested on federal child pornography charges. Childers, now 52, is expected to be sentenced early this week in Winston-Salem.
The criminal complaint against Childers, 50, said he used the Internet to distribute child pornography across state lines and engaged in illicit acts with people he believed to be underage girls.
From December 2005 to June 2006, Childers, using the Yahoo! screen name “Chance 5252,” began communicating with a Michigan agent posing as a 14-year-old girl. According to the SBI, Childers had sexually graphic conversations online with the Michigan agent and sent child pornography and images of himself masturbating to these “girls.”
He faces up to 45 years in prison if the court imposes the maximum sentence, according to a plea agreement on file with the court.
Childers faced eight counts, but under the agreement he pleaded guilty to three. In return, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District, led by Anna Mills Wagoner of Salisbury, agreed not to oppose a motion to dismiss the remaining counts.
He resigned from the police department following his August 2006 arrest.
Childers, who had been out on a $50,000 bond since his arrest, had that bond revoked in May 2007 when he admitted to accessing the Internet on his cell phone to “check his e-mail,” he said.
This was a violation of one of the conditions of his release.
As of late 2007, Childers was being held in the Guilford County Jail. He’s not currently listed on the Guilford County Detention Center inmate list, according to its Web site.
Current Police Chief Reggie Faggart said neither he nor anyone from his department that he knew of would be attending the sentencing hearing.
Childers’ attorney, Greensboro’s Tom Cochran, declined to comment.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.