The middle-aged “boyfriend” of missing ex-teenager Alicia Navarro pleaded not guilty in a Montana court Monday to charges he kept sexually explicit images of children – including some as young as 5 – on his phone.
Edmund Davis, 36, pleaded not guilty to two counts of child sex abuse before being returned to custody, where he is being held on $1 million bail.
Bald and bearded, Davis appeared in court wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with his hands cuffed in front of him.
His public defender told the court he would propose a reduced bail for his client.
Davis was arrested in October after police searched his apartment following Navarro’s remodeling. The girl, now 18, disappeared from her home in Arizona four years ago but showed up at a police station in Havre, Mont., last July and asked to be removed from the missing persons list.
Shortly after it became clear that she had been living with Davis, allegedly as his girlfriend, police searched her apartment and seized her cell phone, where prosecutors from the Montana Attorney General’s Office said they found evidence of child sex abuse.
Edmund Davis, 36, pleaded not guilty to child sexual abuse charges Monday.
When police initially arrived at the home to execute their search warrant, it was Navarro who answered the door – and was allegedly observed trying to hide a cell phone in a trash can.
“Dozens of images of suspected child sexual abuse material found on the device were confirmed to belong to Davis,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
“Following their protocol, the Glendale Police selected ten images from those found and took them to medical experts. … The review determined the depicted individual was under the age of 13, with two images of children under the age of 5,” the release and charging documents allege.
A search of Davis’ other devices found they “contain images of babies and children and other computer-generated or animated content that depicts children being sexualized,” authorities said.
Navarro, now 18, disappeared from his parents’ Arizona home shortly before his 15th birthday. Davis and Navarro had been living together for at least a year, locals said, while she told people she was his niece.Brigitte Stelzer for the NY Post
Navarro had been living with Davis for at least a year, locals told The Post before the child sex abuse arrest, with a former co-worker from his gig at Walmart explaining he told people he was his niece.
“They’re using a cover … that it’s his nephew,” the colleague said.
Navarro has since been reunited with his mother, Jessica Nunez, who released a video telling parents of other missing children that “miracles really do happen.”
Navarro had left a note for her mother when she disappeared shortly before her 15th birthday in 2019, leading police to believe she “abandoned her home on purpose.” Davis was not charged with her disappearance.
By Postal Wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
