POPE COUNTY (KFSM) – Bond was set at $100,000 for a Pope County man accused of bestiality and possession of child pornography, authorities say.
Jonathan Ford appeared in Pope County before District Court Judge Don Bourne on Wednesday (July 8) for his bond hearing, according to the Pope County Sheriff’s Office.
The bond hearing was for a pending child pornography possession charge, deputies said.
Ford was previously arrested on June 12 on suspicion of bestiality and on June 26 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit commercial burglary, according to a news release. He has been charged with bestiality, but formal charges haven’t been filed yet in the commercial burglary or child pornography cases, according to the Pope County Prosecutor’s Office.
His arraignment for the commercial burglary and child porn charges is scheduled for Aug. 3, and at that time he will enter a plea for those charges, officials said.
During the bond hearing for the child pornography case, an investigator testified that a search warrant had been obtained for Ford’s computer, and several hundred images of child porn were discovered on the device, according to the Pope County Sheriff’s Office. Analysis of the device is ongoing, and more pornography could be found on the computer.
Bourne ordered Ford to stay away from churches, schools, daycare facilities and any other locations where children are present if he bonds out of jail.
