A Romney man was being held in jail without bond this week following his arrest in connection with an undercover online chat regarding solicitation of minors in the Warren County/Front Royal, Va. area.
According to a press release from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Samuel Funkhouser, 33, is alleged to have contacted an undercover investigator while posing as a juvenile under the age of 15. Throughout the chat exchange, Funkhouser asked for photos and lewd content from the investigator, whom he believed was a young female. He is also alleged to have transmitted obscene materials to the investigator, including images of bestiality. Funkhouser instigated the initial interaction with the undercover investigator.
According to Hampshire County Sheriff Nathan Sions, Funkhouser turned himself in at the sheriff’s office on Thursday, April 10. Investigators from Warren County interviewed him at the jail. He appeared before a magistrate on three felony counts of use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children, and three felony counts of sexual abuse of animals.
The Warren County Sheriff’s Office launched the undercover chat operation regarding the online solicitation of minors within the Warren County/Front Royal area on March 27, according to the press release.
A court date for Funkhouser has been set for May 15, in Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. He is being held currently in the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail.
Anyone with additional information regarding this case is encouraged to contact investigator C.J. McDaniel at 540-635-7100, or via email at cmcdaniel@warrencountysheriff.org.
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