GODFREY - An online tip led the Madison County Sheriff’s Department to a man in Godfrey who allegedly had multiple files of child pornography on his phone - he now faces seven total felonies, according to county court documents.
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Mark W. Bray, 29, of Godfrey, was charged with seven counts of child pornography on Feb. 22, 2024. Each of the seven counts corresponds to a different file, each depicting minors under the age of 13 engaged in various sexual acts, according to court documents. The first six counts are Class 2 felonies related to six video files, while the seventh count is a Class 3 felony related to an image file.
A petition to deny Bray’s pretrial release describes the investigation, which began on Sept. 27, 2023 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) sent the Madison County Sheriff’s Office a CyberTip that was submitted through their CyberTipline.
The tip reported that an individual had images and videos of child pornography within a Synchronoss Technologies account linked to their Verizon phone number. This was just one of 21 total CyberTips which each referenced the same suspect uploading “sexually explicit material on numerous occasions.”
“The images/videos that were reported were provided and confirmed that they were images/videos of nude prepubescent/pubescent children engaged in sexually explicit content with each other and/or adults,” the petition states.
34 total files were reviewed and determined to contain child pornography. All activity allegedly occurred between Aug. 21, 2023 and Sept. 24, 2023.
“The NCMEC report provided additional open source information suggesting the suspect phone number was associated with the Verizon account of Mark W. Bray. Upon searching the phone number in local records, the phone number is also associated with Mark Bray, who is last known to reside [in the 200 block of] Pinewood Drive in Godfrey.”
Records provided by Dropbox, Inc. showed that Sept. 21, 2023 was the last date their servers were accessed by a Verizon device model and IP address associated with a gmail.com email address which included Bray’s first initial and last name.
“A search warrant was executed at Mark Bray’s residence … on Feb. 22, 2024,” the petition continued. “During the execution of that search warrant, multiple cell phones belonging to Mark Bray were seized and searched. Multiple videos and images of prepubescent child pornography were found on the cell phone which Mark Bray admitted that he was currently using. He confirms his cell phone number … and that phone number is associated with the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus on which the child porn was possessed.”
Bray’s case was submitted by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and court documents indicate he was remanded to jail until his initial appearance in court.
The issuance of charges is based solely upon probable cause and is not an indication of guilt. All subjects charged with criminal offenses are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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