A 21-year-old man in Ohio was accused of raping an eight-month-old child. The incident came to light during an ongoing investigation into child pornography.

Zachariah Wicker, 21, of Perry County, was under investigation for possessing child abuse image. Morgan County Sheriff Douglas J McGrath revealed his office had conducted a weekend-long investigation which turned up evidence that implicated Wicker. The Perry County Sher­iff’s Office, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), joined the efforts late Sunday afternoon in a search warrant at a residence located in the Rose Farm area of York Township.

“Evidence was collected during the investigation, and the search warrant resulted in the arrest,” McGrath said.

Wicker was charged with statutory rape and was currently incarcerated at the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail on a $1 million bond. He made his first appearance in court on Monday. If convicted, he could face up to 11 years in prison, as well as a $20,000 fine.

“I would like to extend kudos to everyone involved in getting this case to a quick resolution. This includes Prosecutor Mark Howdyshell, Morgan County Children’s Services, and the Perry County Sheriff’s Office. I especially want to commend all of my deputies involved in this case. My deputies put forth a lot of time and effort to ensure the victim is now safe. It deeply disturbs me to have such horrific crimes being committed in our community, but I am so glad we have a dedicated, caring team here at the Sheriff’s Office that was able to identify this crime, quickly act upon it and put an abrupt halt to it," Sheriff McGrath said.

handcuff
Representational image of a man in handcuffs. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

On Tuesday, a South Carolina man was charged amid a child porn investigation. A search warrant against the man was issued after investigators learned from a tip that child pornography was being uploaded to the internet from devices at a home in Grays Hill. Police arrived at the scene and 54-year-old Shawn Lambe was taken into custody on three counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor 3rd Degree. Officials seized computers, phones and storage devices from his residence.

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