Slade Sohmer, who helmed the leftist political site the Recount up until last month, was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of possession and two counts of dissemination of child pornography.
The 44-year-old, who lives in Otis, Massachusetts, is accused of possessing “hundreds of child pornography images and videos,” including a compilation video of boys as young as 3 being raped. Sohmer is also said to have trafficked at least two illicit files, reported the Berkshire Eagle.
Sohmer pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on $100,000 bail Monday,
According to his LinkedIn page, Sohmer served as co-director of Camp Power for the past 13 years. The organization purportedly “provides kids from NYC’s most underfunded and underserved neighborhoods with freedom and encouragement that are often lacking in their communities back in the city. [Their] signature program is a weeklong camp.”
The camp operates out of New York and Pennsylvania.
Between camping excursions, Sohmer worked over the past four years as editor in chief at the Recount, a struggling left-wing political site recently acquired by the News Movement, a video news organization started by former BBC and News Corp. executives.
The Recount told the Eagle in a statement, “Slade Sohmer is no longer Editor-In-Chief of The Recount following a company restructure exercise in early October to focus on our editorial and commercial plans.”
Sohmer left footprints elsewhere in left-leaning virtual spaces, serving as editor in chief at HyperVocal, co-hosting the “Politics Powered by Twitter” program on SiriusXM’s POTUS 124, and running the anonymous social media app Whisper’s news service.
A newly deleted BuzzFeed article, entitled, “People Are Touched by This Writer’s Conversation with a Bunch of Fourth Graders,” revealed Sohmer has not been averse to broaching the matter of sexuality with children. The article provided the leftist’s account of how he brought up his gay relationship with a bunch of 10-year-olds he had just met for the first time.
“Am I about to come out of the closet to these kids? At this point I looked to my mother, who kind of nodded and mouthed something like ‘go ahead.’ So I said, ‘I live with my boyfriend,'” wrote Sohmer. He later noted his outing was well received.
“It’s not like I ~misjudged~ these kids or had any preconceived notions,” Sohmer told BuzzFeed. “I just don’t know what today’s fourth-graders know about love and sexuality and gender and all its modern permutations. I’m glad it went down the way it did.”
“If adults would stop teaching children that queerness of any stripe is wrong, especially transgender folks, the world would be an infinitely better place,” added the alleged pedophile and critic of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
The Berkshire Eagle indicated that police arrested Sohmer several weeks after seizing multiple electronic devices, which allegedly were loaded up with child sexual abuse images. They also searched his home on Oct. 18.
According to court documents, the investigation started with a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to the Massachusetts State Police Cyber Crime Unit that on Sept. 30, 2022, an individual circulated a video of an adolescent boy masturbating. The victim was identified and the video traced back to the IP address associated with Sohmer’s home internet account.
Police found that 53 videos sent from one of Sohmer’s phones were potentially child pornography.
First Assistant District Attorney Marianne Shelvey told the TheWrap that this is “one of the most egregious cases” she has ever come across.
Shelvey indicated more charges are likely coming, especially since Sohmer allegedly recorded a video call where he had a child perform sex acts.
“We went from just dissemination of child pornography to production of child pornography,” Shelvey told Judge Danielle Williams of Southern Berkshire District Court on Monday, reported the New York Post.
Police indicated that in a 2021 conversation on Telegram with a user identified as “Zeph,” Sohmer allegedly noted his “ideal age range” was 13-16, reported the Eagle.
TheWrap reported that Sohmer allegedly detailed how to kidnap and rape a child in text chats, which Shelvey suggested added “a level of extreme cruelty” to the case.
The criminal affidavit claims Sohmer admitted on Telegram to having “baited” a 14-year-old boy while posing online as a teenage girl “a couple of years back.” While the boy showed up at their planned rendezvous, Sohmer allegedly said he “chickened out” and did not go forward with his scheme.
If convicted of the charges he presently faces, Sohmer could do anywhere from five to 10 years in prison.
The Boston Globe indicated that Sohmer’s attorney, Andrew Levchuk, declined Tuesday to comment on the case.
While Sohmer is not due in court again until December, Judge Williams has barred him from using the internet, making contact with minors, or traveling without giving notice in the meantime.
Sohmer can be seen below hosting the Recount’s “Chatterbrain” trivia show.
Chatterbrain: The News Game Showyoutu.be
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