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Library workers suspicious of man in children’s section make sick find

Posted at 12:51 AM, Oct 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-31 01:01:56-04

ANDERSON, Ind. – Following a more than three-year investigation, police have arrested a man known as a regular in the children’s section of a public library in Indiana for taking inappropriate photos of children, teens and adults.

Police first learned of an incident inside the Anderson Public Library in 2013 when vigilant library workers reported finding child porn on a computer that Jeramy Rhodus had recently used in the children’s section, WTTV reported.

“They were alerted by civilians in the library and that is what led to the child porn investigation being conducted by police,” Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said.

Officers discovered 32 illicit photos and 60 videos of nude women and children. That evidence allowed detectives to get a search warrant where police discovered even more videos on the 36-year-old’s personal cell phone.

According to court documents, he not only used his phone to record video of a porn site, but Rhodus reportedly used his camera to snap pictures of kids, teens and women inside the library. He also had photos snapped of victims at Anderson University, at Walmart and at local parks.

“They were walking around or standing, and he would zoom the camera into certain portions of their body that would appear to have a sexual component to it,” Cummings said.

Jeramy Rhodus

Jeramy Rhodus

The Indiana State Police Cybercrimes Unit spent months analyzing the graphic photos while Rhodus remained free.

“He did not have an address and no one knew where he was,” Cummings said. “So that was part of the reason that it took so long to locate him. He was at a local bar over the weekend. Someone knew about the problem, called police and he was arrested.”

Rhodus faces felony charges, including child pornography and voyeurism. If convicted, he will have to register as a sex offender.

From the Anderson library workers who first called police, to the good Samaritan who helped them track Rhodus down, police said this is lesson for everyone to stay vigilant.

“You see someone taking video images or pics of children that they don`t appear to have an association with, call the police,” Cummings advised. “It may not be anything, but you might save a child from being victimized.”