CITIZEN STAFF REPORT

WILLIAMSON — A Mingo County man was arrested and jailed on child pornography charges.

Terry Randall Hinkle, 55, of Delbarton, was apprehended Feb. 21 by the Mingo County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Marshals Cuffed Task Force based on a warrant alleging he possessed more than 600 child pornography images in a Google Photos account. He faces formal charges of possessing images of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Documents from the Mingo County Magistrate Court reveal that an officer was assigned Dec. 8 to investigate a cyber tipline report from Sept. 21, which alleged the storage of child pornography in Google Photos.

The inquiry led to Hinkle’s email, which was confirmed as a Google account. The officer reported viewing six images cited in the cyber tipline report, which Google had also viewed.

Mingo County Magistrate Court issued administrative subpoenas for two Frontier Communications IP addresses, which law enforcement served on the same day.

A search warrant for Hinkle’s email address followed.

The investigator subsequently viewed videos depicting young females, seemingly juveniles and prepubescent, engaged in sexual acts and depicted in a sexually explicit manner.

Hinkle is currently detained at the Southwestern Regional Jail in Holden on a $40,000 bond.