Former top prosecutor accused of child exploitation swallowed memory card full of evidence against him to avoid arrest, kills himself

Child abuse and child exploitation are on the rise in the last couple of years in United States and the lawmakers across the country are doing everything in their power to slow down this trend. Usually, the prosecutors and judges are those who are taking down the child abuse offenders, but in today’s case a former top prosecutor, who later became a judge, was the one accused in multiple cases of child exploitation.

According to the court and police records, the former top prosecutor in one Maryland county who became a judge in 2016 identified as the J. Newell, didn’t had the chance to defend himself in court after he was accused of multiple child exploitation cases.

Reportedly, Newell was facing several federal charges and he was about to be arrested mid-September by the FBI. But it looks like Newell received information about his arrest and he tried to killed himself.

When FBI agents went to his home to arrest him, they found the suspect suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was transferred to hospital for treatment, but he was pronounced dead despite doctor’s efforts to save his life.

The case has been nothing but interesting for the public as it takes a number of twist and turns before it’s all said and done.

Newell was accused of recording boys showering in his hunting cabin with a hidden camera. Police visited Newell’s cabin in July, after a minor told his parents he believed he saw a camera in the bathroom of the cabin. At that time, Newell denied he’d hidden a camera to record the boy, Above The Law reported.

Officers tried to push Newell and admit everything, but he continued to deny their claims and asked them to let him go in his bedroom to charge his phone and make a phone call. That’s the moment when the alleged destruction of evidence took place.

According to the officers who questioned him regarding the accusations, as soon as he went to his bedroom, he reached for something under his bed, he had his hand closed in a fist and placed it close to his mouth.

Investigators heard two “crunch” sounds from Newell’s mouth and saw him drink from a cup.

They immediately went to check what’s under his bed and they were able to locate a camera, apparently used in the cases when he was recording the minors. However, the SD card from the camera was missing.

Newell was taken to the hospital for CT scans, which found that there was possibly a “metallic foreign body” in his bowel.

The investigators obtained search warrants and found numerous recording devices in Newell’s house. They also found two external hard disk drives that allegedly contained “numerous videos of minor males showering.”

Unfortunately for the victims and their parents, Newell never got what he deserved.