Pastor gets more charges

Published 8:59 pm Thursday, July 14, 2016

A pastor and former director of the Franklin Department of Social Services has been arrested on additional child pornography charges.

Hogge

Hogge

Christopher Alan Hogge was taken into custody at his residence on July 14, according to a press release from the Isle of Wight Sheriff’s Office. He is charged with 10 counts of second offense distribution of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

He had been free on a $25,000 bond from the earlier charges, on which he was arrested in May.

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The additional charges come as a result of an extensive forensic review of several electronic devices taken from his home during the search warrant in May, according to the press release from Lt. Tommy Potter.

Hogge is listed as pastor of Battery Park Baptist Church in Isle of Wight on the church’s website. He no longer is listed as the director of the Franklin Department of Social Services on the department website.

Hogge, 48, was charged with eight counts of distribution of child pornography in May after sheriff’s investigators received a tip earlier this month 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 had been used to access an online social media account that was hosting multiple images depicting child pornography and exploitation.

Local investigators assigned to the Special Investigations Section uncovered evidence to secure eight felony warrants. In May, search warrants were executed at various locations in Isle of Wight and Franklin in connection with the case.

Hogge is currently being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail on a no-bond status, Potter stated. An arraignment set for Thursday in Isle of Wight General District Court was continued to July 28.