Court documents say that one of the girls said that Sanders showed her some of the pictures that were on his phone, told her other kids were doing it and that it was ‘normal.’
Springfield Police Division Detective Sandy Fent said Sanders was interviewed by police first on April 18. He denied abusing the two girls and allowed investigators to search his phone.
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“I almost immediately found child pornography,” said Fent. “From what we can tell, everything was downloaded from the internet, so it did not appear to be anyone local or our victims in this case.”
Court documents say that 10 videos and over 350 images were found on Sanders’ phone of children under the age of 10 engaging in sex acts.
Springfield police interviewed Sanders again on Monday at the police station.
Fent said when Sanders was asked about what was on his phone, he acted as if he were clueless.
“He has no idea how this got on his phone,” said Fent. “But nobody else has had his phone and he’s had his phone for quite some time.”
Court documents say the video and images were downloaded to his phone as early as May 2015 and some of the allegations extend to this month.
Fent did say that she believes Sanders did have access to other children — whether that be through babysitting or family members — and police would like to speak with the parents and their children to see if there are any other incidents that need to be investigated.
Sanders is charged with eight felony counts relating to the child porn that detectives found on his phone. As of Thursday evening, Sanders had not been charged with anything relating to the alleged sexual abuse of the two girls.
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Sanders currently faces four counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person and four counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person. The counts range in severity from fourth-degree felonies to second-degree felonies.
If Sanders is convicted on all charges and sentenced to the maximum penalty for each count, he could spend decades in prison.
Not guilty pleas were entered for him during his arraignment hearing on Tuesday morning in Clark County Municipal Court and his bond was set at $50,000.
As a condition of his bond, he’s not allowed to have any contact with anyone under the age of 18 or be anywhere that someone under the age of 18 is.
At last check Tuesday evening, Sanders was still being held in the Clark County Jail.