On Friday, December 9, 2022, Timothy Patrick Newsome, age 32, of Snow Hill, Maryland, was sentenced to a total of 40 years in the Division of Corrections for his conviction on four counts of distribution of child pornography, which he pled guilty to on September 2, 2022. The Honorable Beau H. Oglesby of the Worcester County Circuit Court suspended all but 16 years of the sentence. Upon his release, Newsome will be on supervised probation for 5 years, with requirements that he register as a tier II sex offender, have no unsupervised contact with children and submit a DNA sample.
The charges originated when the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation received a referral in May 2021 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) Cyber Tipline. The cybertip identified a WhatsApp account having uploaded a video containing child pornography. Investigators eventually traced this account back to Timothy Newsome. Days later, another cybertip was received about a Skype account which had uploaded child pornography, and this account was also traced back to Newsome. As a result, detectives executed a search warrant at Newsome’s home in Snow Hill and seized multiple electronic devices for forensic examination. The forensic examination of those devices revealed that Newsome had distributed multiple files containing child pornography over the internet. He was charged in July 2021 with 38 counts of distributing child pornography and 2 counts of possession of child pornography.
Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser praised the collaborative efforts of the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation, the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce, and NCMEC, and thanked Cpl. Herrman and Det. Martin who were the primary investigators on the case. Heiser also commended ASA Pamela Correa who prosecuted the case.
