Stanley Holmes, a 69-year-old girls track and field coach, was recently arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. The Cheboygan County, Michigan resident is a retired teacher as well as being the current track and field coach and assistant cross country coach at Elms Elementary School in Flushing, MI.
According to reports from the Tuscarora Township Police Department, officers were contacted by the owner of Meister Plans Computer Repair in Indian River, Michigan. They are a local computer repair shop. The owner told police that he had found what he suspected may have been child pornography on someone’s computer. Officers arrived at the location and were shown images of young naked girls on the desktop.
Police obtained a search warrant to view the contents of the computer’s files and drives and removed the computer from the repair shop. During the later forensic search of the computer, investigators found a number of other pornographic photos of minors and other kiddie porn materials. As a result of what officers found on Holmes’ computer, they got another warrant to search his home in Flushing, Michigan.
Flushing Township Police Chief Brian Fairchild has confirmed that the department removed three computers, two laptops, a great deal of digital media, and a number of DVDs, CDs, floppy disks, and even VHS tapes were removed from the house in Flushing.
Officers also searched Holmes’ summer cottage located in Topinabee, which is in Cheboygan County.
There, they allegedly found even more files and thumb drives full of child pornography also call child sexually abusive material (CSAM) in Michigan law. According to police, the victims appear to be in their teens and pre-teens. Currently, the evidence from both homes is being processed but police are not sure how long that will take.
Additionally, they are currently unsure if the victims are local and Holmes produced the pornography on his own, or if it is pornography that he purchased and downloaded. But regardless of where the victims are from, the school district terminated Holmes immediately and cut off his access to all students.
Holmes was arraigned on August 9th in the for Possession of Child Pornography, also sometimes known as “kiddie porn,” and Using a Computer to Commit a Crime. Both of these crimes are felonies, and are extremely serious under Michigan law, with the prior being punishable by up to four years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Registration on Michigan’s public sex offender registry is also required.
Being charged with a sex crime is such a serious issue and should be handled only by a highly experienced sex crime defense attorney. If you have been charged with a sex crime, contact us immediately at 866-766-5245 to talk with one of our skilled sex crime defense attorneys. Someone is standing by to take your call.