Judge won't lower bail on teen charged with having child porn

A judge today refused to lower the bail of a 16-year-old charged with 50 counts of possessing child pornography.

Prosecutors objected to any reduction. They said they feared Patrick Louis Melton would turn from viewing pictures and videos into attacking a child.

Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Phil Dubord said he asked Melton if he hadn't been caught if he would have "acted out" and molested a child.

"He said, 'Maybe,'" Dubord said.

Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters said additional charges would be lodged against Melton, who authorities said they believe is the youngest person in Hillsborough County to be charged with such crimes.

She said that since he appeared to be sharing the computer files, he also would be charged with promoting a sexual performance by a minor. Peters also said investigators are still examining Melton's computer and have found more than 200 such files.

Melton's bail has been set at $2,000 per count, or $100,000. His attorney, Robert Mactavish, asked Timmerman to reduce it to no more than $10,000.

Mactavish called Melton's father and pastor to testify on his client's behalf.

Mactavish said the case has been investigated for months and Melton has taken responsibility and cooperated. Melton was originally arrested on juvenile charges in June. He was rearrested as an adult Monday.

Dubord said the images were of children as young as 2 and up to age 12.

The detective said the teen told him he stumbled across adult pornography by accident when he was 9.

Dubord said Melton said he was doing an Internet search for hot rods and mistyped hot bods.

The detective said the images found on Melton's computer were almost equally divided between adult and child pornography, with some pictures of bestiality.

Mactavish said no images have been added since the investigation began four months ago. He also said research does not indicate watching images lead to people imitating what they saw.

Timmerman set an Aug. 6 hearing to check on the progress of the case.