Richard Wellbeloved-Stone sat in federal court this morning, often with his head in his hands, as he waited for an initial appearance before a judge on additional charges of child pornography production and child porn possession, on top of the 19 counts of making child porn he faces in state court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe found probable cause to move the case to a grand jury after the former Charlottesville High environmental sciences teacher, 57, waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
Hoppe also found that Wellbeloved-Stone qualified for court-appointed counsel because his assets are marital property and his wife has filed for a divorce. “Given the nature of the charges, I can anticipate significant costs,” said the judge. Attorney Andre Hakes represents Wellbeloved-Stone on the state charges.
Federal public defender Andrea Harris appeared in court with Wellbeloved-Stone, and she did not seek his release on bond. He’s been held in Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail since his arrest July 27.
He came to law enforcement attention in an online chat on KIK Messenger with an undercover officer in the U.K., who passed along details to Homeland Security July 14. According to a court affidavit, Wellbeloved-Stone, using an account named “bijsincville,” described fantasizing about a prepubescent girl whom he had helped get dressed for bed.
Police searched his home July 25 and found an external hard drive containing 10 files with “titles consistent with child pornography,” according to the affidavit. One had a 9-year-old girl and the video focused on her vagina. Another had a 12-year-old girl performing oral sex on her same-aged boyfriend, and police say the girl is known in the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.
On Wellbeloved-Stone’s iPhone, agents found 20 images of “a pre-pubescent female’s vagina” taken of the girl waist down. Some of the photos show a male hand manipulating the child’s genitalia, and metadata on the phone shows the photos were taken May 18 and May 20. There were also nonsexual photos taken of the girl before the more graphic images, according to the affidavit.
Wellbeloved-Stone appeared in Charlottesville General District Court September 28, where the prosecution dropped one count of child porn possession.