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Washington resident indicted on child pornography charges

by | Jul 24, 2024

Washington resident Scott Alexander Hale was indicted by a Rappahannock County grand jury earlier this month on charges of distribution and possession of child pornography.

Hale, 35, was arrested in February after multiple images and files were allegedly linked to his IP address and more were later discovered on his computer hard drive, according to a criminal complaint filed in Rappahannock County Circuit Court.

Hale allegedly admitted to law enforcement that his custom-built computer contained child pornography, and that he had accessed it recently before his arrest in February, according to the complaint. He had no criminal record prior to this arrest, according to court documents.

At a Feb. 13 bail hearing, Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff argued against his release on bail, and said that Hale is “extremely dangerous to society.” He was ultimately granted bail, with special conditions preventing him from possessing a personal computer or internet-capable device. 

Hale is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court on Aug. 12 for a plea hearing.

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By Ireland Hayes

Read more articles by Ireland Hayes
Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.