ISLE OF WIGHT CO., Va. - The Director of the Department of Social Services for the City of Franklin was arrested on Monday morning and charged with eight counts of possession and distribution of child pornography, according to the Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office.
Christopher Alan Hogge, 48, was arrested at his residence in the 10000 block of Newport Street.
Hogge also serves at the pastor of Battery Park Baptist Church. According to the IOW Sheriffs Office, he has been with the church since 2001.
Christopher Alan Hogge
The investigation began when investigators received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, through the Bedford County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, that an internet account in Isle of Wight County had accessed a social media account where there were multiple pictures of child pornography and exploitation stored.
Lieutenant Tommy Potter says for the past month, they have tracked Hogge's social media accounts on websites that specialize in trading pornographic images.
At this point, they have about 3,000 images that Hogge recently downloaded that are pornographic in nature. Lieutenant Potter says there are eight images that are clearly showing children.
"When we find cases like this, it is very alarming," says Lieutenant Potter.
The IOW County Sheriff's Office says they conducted three search warrants on Monday.
Hogge lives in a home owned by the church. The search warrants conducted Monday morning were executed at the church and the home. In the afternoon, deputies searched Hogge's office at the Franklin Social Services building.
On Tuesday morning, Hogge appeared via video conferencing in a Juvenile Domestic Relations courtroom at Isle of Wight County Courthouse. His hearing was very quick. Hogge's wife was at the hearing but did not want to talk to News 3.
Arrest warrants for Hogge say between December 2015 and February 2016, he posted or retweeted eight pornographic images of minors on his Twitter account. The images were shared with his nearly 5,000 followers, according to the documents.
The complaint warrant say seven of the images were of young girls completely naked and in sexual positions. The eighth picture had nine boys and girls in it as well as three adults, all of them naked.
A neighbor who attended some of Hogge's church services says Hogge spent time with children during summer bible camp.
"I see at least 20 kids running around here. They have a Sunday school during their church, so he's always around children," says Daniel Drumright. "It's scary, it's scary because it's people that you trust and right next door to you."
Boyce Townsend lives directly across the street from the Hogge family. He says he has known the family for more than a decade and considers himself a close friend, which is why he was so shocked to hear of Hogge's arrest.
"Mr. Hogge has always been really important to everyone around here," said Townsend. "This is just a complete and total surprise. I would have never suspected this."
Lieutenant Potter says there is no reason to believe that the images are of children in Isle of Wight or surrounding areas.
He also says they have no evidence that Hogge ever inappropriately touched a child.
Hogge's next court appearance is scheduled for August 1st.
