Harrison Man Faces Felony Charges

A Harrison man has been charged with four felonies after allegedly trying to arrange for underage girls to share explicit photos with him online.

Twenty-eight-year-old Joseph “Joey” Michael Simone faces two counts of computer child pornography, a single count of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, and a single count of employing or consenting to the use of a child in a sexual performance.

On March 18, an individual provided Harrison Police Department officers with 192 images that allegedly showed Simone communicating with other individuals on Twitter. The individual had reportedly discovered that Simone allegedly had an alternate Twitter account and that there were images and videos of sexually explicit material being shared.

Reviewing the images, authorities determined the user name seen in the images was “@Joey52914850,” and the account listed the user’s birth date as July 10, 2002. Authorities determined that the users of the account had been communicating with individuals claiming to be female teenagers and was engaging in conversations of a sexual nature with them.

In the arrest affidavit, Harrison police accuse Simone of agreeing to trade images with an individual claiming to be a 15-year-old female and entering into negotiations to pay a purported 16-year-old female to record herself while performing sexual acts. Simone is also accused of receiving and retaining a sexually explicit image of the purported 16-year-old.

Simone is also facing a felony count of using a communication device in another, separate incident.

In that case, which dates back to March, he is accused of using a cell phone to text someone and discuss purchasing Xanex from them.

Simone is currently out on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Boone County Circuit Court Friday.

(From: KTLO)