Olney man arrested on child porn charges

An Olney man arrested in July for offering a child for sex on social media was arrested again on charges of possession of child pornography as the result of a continuing police investigation, Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck said.

Terry Joe Ward, 43, first was arrested on a charge of online solicitation of a minor on July 21 after Olney police received a “cybertip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Ward had offered over Instagram to provide a juvenile male to a woman for sex, Chief Birbeck said.

The tip stated that Ward’s Instagram account was used for online solicitation starting Jan. 3, 2021, and continuing until May 22, 2022.

Olney police seized various electronic devices and sent them to a crime laboratory for analysis, and served various social media platforms with a search warrant seeking the contents of Ward’s social media accounts, Olney Police Detective Dustin Hudson said. The platforms returned the results of the search warrant at the end of October, he said.

“We got copies of his Instagram account and everybody he had communicated with and in that Instagram account, there were photos of alleged child pornography. We are still investigating and trying to identify the individuals in the photos,” Det. Hudson said. “I’ve got some leads I haven’t been able to track them down yet.”

Police have not yet received the crime lab analysis of Ward’s devices, which could lead to additional charges to his case, Det. Hudson said. Assistant District Attorney Phillip Gregory said the investigation “is ongoing.”

“We do not have the case in our office for grand jury review at this point,” Mr. Gregory said. Under Texas law, each photograph could lead to a separate child pornography charge, which is a third-degree felony with a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, he said.

Ward has been released from Young County Jail, jail records show.