A Maryland state judge died by suicide before being arrested on a federal charge of sexual exploitation of a child.
Caroline County Circuit Judge Jonathan Newell was pronounced dead at 6:43 a.m. Friday morning, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said in a statement.
When FBI agents went to Newell’s home to arrest him, they found him “suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the statement said.
The Maryland State Police are investigating the incident.
Newell was facing one federal charge of sexual exploitation of a child, according to court records unsealed Friday.
According to an affidavit, Maryland State Police responded to a call to Newell’s cabin on July 23 regarding a minor who found a video camera in the cabin’s bathroom and took a photo of the camera.
When investigators arrived, the first minor said that another adult and four minor males were with them at the cabin but had left.
When investigators interviewed Newell the same day, he denied noticing a camera in the bathroom. After the interview, he went to his bedroom to make calls.
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