Trending
WARREN -- A Girard man accused of multiple charges of "revenge porn" appeared Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to answer the 10-count indictment.
Thomas Shepherd III, 26, of Poplar Street, through his public defender, pleaded not guilty to 10 counts, including nine counts of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images and one second-degree felony of illegal use of minor in nudity-oriented material or performance.
Shepherd, who told the judge he just started as a chef at a private club / resort in Mahoning County, remains jailed pending the posting of a $100,000 bond set by Judge Ronald J. Rice. The judge told the defendant if he can come up with the money for bond, he will have electronically monitored house arrest at his own expense, plus have no contact with juveniles unless they are accompanied by a guardian.
"You are also to have no internet access. If I find out that you are posting junk out there, you will be in jail until your case is over," Rice told Shepherd.
Assistant Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman said this, to his knowledge, is the first case of revenge porn to come through the court system. He said the case involves multiple women victims.
Wildman said the man is accused of posting explicit images of them without their knowledge. Wildman told the judge no acts of violence were involved.
A Weathersfield police report shows a charge of pandering obscenity involving Shepherd was taken at the police station Dec. 7, 2021. The women victims from both cases were listed as a 22-year-old and 24-year-old, both from Austintown, a 26-year-old from Canfield and a 22-year-old who lived on the West Side of Youngstown.
Wildman said the charge involving the juvenile is that one of the adult women had a picture of when she was a juvenile posted.
Records show Shepherd has been in Trumbull County jail since June 29 and as of Thursday afternoon had not bonded out.
Another pretrial hearing for Shepherd is set for Sept. 8 before Rice.