CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — A 49-year-old Middleburg man was arrested Monday in connection with a child sex crimes investigation that began on the other side of the country nearly 18 months ago.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says Alvin Bost is charged with three counts of possession of child pornography.
The investigation began in Kittitas County, Washington in Oct. 2020, when a father contacted the Ellensburg Police Department to report a man had requested child pornography through a Craigslist ad that his adult daughter had made looking for additional work, according to court documents.
The father claimed the man had offered his daughter $1,500 to paint a portion of his home and $3,000 if she did it in the nude. When interviewed, the woman told police that the man also offered to pay her to send nude videos of her with girls under the age of 12—and offered $10,000 for pictures of her young daughter.
Police say they were able to cross-reference a photo the suspect had sent the woman to a Facebook profile with the user account “marc.halstone.39″. On Oct. 6, 2020, two search warrants were granted, one for records associated with the Facebook account and one for records relating to the Craigslist ad.
EPD says on Oct. 8, Craigslist provided the information requested, which revealed one of the e-mail addresses that responded to the Craigslist ad was “marc.halstonOO@gmail.com”. A search warrant was granted for subscriber and e-mail content associated with the email account.
On Oct. 26, investigators say they received information from Google showing two IP addresses affiliated with the email address, one of which was used to log into the Google account 42 times between Sept. 4, and Sept. 14, 2020. One IP address was linked to Joytel and affiliated with a Jacksonville business. The other was connected to Comcast and tracked to a home in Clay County.
Bost was identified Nov. 12 after Comcast provided the name and address of the account holder. On Feb. 17, 2021, a federal search warrant was executed at Bost’s home, which led to the seizure of multiple electronic devices that contained child pornography, CCSO says.
Bost was taken into custody Monday on an active warrant. He is currently being held at the Clay County Jail on $300,000 bond.
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