A man behind a popular YouTube crafting account for children was arrested for alleged possession of child sex abuse material, according to Kentucky police.
Michael David Booth, 39, garnered over 594K subscribers on his “Mr. Crafty Pants” account, but it was his alleged misconduct on the Kik messaging app that led to his arrest.
‘My heart dropped. Felt sick to my stomach. It was gut-wrenching and eye-opening.’
Law enforcement officials said they were tipped off that child sex abuse material was being allegedly sent from Booth’s account between Aug. 5 and Aug. 8.
An investigation found two photographs Booth took of himself on the account, indicating that he ran the account. The account sent files of children under 12 to other Kik users on at least 10 occasions, and it sent files of children between 12 and 18 years old to other users on at least 15 occasions, according to the arrest citation.
Neighbors noticed a sign at the man’s home that took on sinister tones after the arrest.
“I smell children,” the sign read.
On Oct. 22, Booth was arrested on 25 counts of distributing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and four other similar counts.
A Jefferson County District Court judge set a bond of $100,000 full cash for Booth on Thursday and ordered that he have no access to social media, to the internet, or to minors.
“You feel like you know your neighbors, but what goes on behind closed doors … I guess we never know,” said Lindsay Smart, a neighbor to Booth. “It’s sickening, it’s disgusting, and I’m glad he got caught.”
“So we walked out our front door on Wednesday to a very heavy police presence,” said Laura Nash, who lives across the street from Booth. “My heart dropped. Felt sick to my stomach. It was gut-wrenching and eye-opening.”
Some users noted that Booth was wearing the same sweatshirt in one of his last Instagram posts as he is in his booking photo.
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