A Maryland judge killed himself moments before the FBI reached his home to arrest him in a child sex abuse case. Caroline County Circuit Judge Jonathan Newell, 50, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound by FBI agents at around 6:43 am, according to the Maryland US Attorney's Office.
The FBI had just reached Newell's home in Henderson, Maryland, when they heard gunshots. On opening the door they found Newell lying dead in a pool of blood. Newell knew that the police would be coming and that if he was proven guilty, he would have had to spend years behind the bars.
Paying for His Crime
On Friday, FBI agents after conducting an investigation reached Newell's home to arrest him on a complaint charging him with sexual exploitation of a child for allegedly filming teenage boys in the nude in his hunting cabin, The Baltimore Sun reported. Newell had allegedly used a hidden camera that captured images of naked boys in his bathroom.
On reaching his home they heard gunshots and after breaking open the door found him "suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." He had in fact died at that time, Maryland US Attorney's Office later confirmed.
"Maryland State Police will lead the investigation into the apparent suicide," prosecutors said in a news release on Friday afternoon.
Newell had been on leave since July, after one of many boys who he had brought on a hunting trip on Hoopers Island discovered a hidden camera in the bathroom and called his parents, according to court documents obtained by the Sun.
Sexual Predator
One of the boys told investigators that Newell checked them for ticks when they were naked. "One stated that he moved his own genitalia for Newell to look for ticks, and the other initially did not recall if Newell touched his genitalia, but later stated that Newell once or twice moved the minor's genitalia to look for ticks," FBI Special Agent Rachel Corn wrote in the complaint.
Following that an investigation was launched and FBI started for his home to arrest him. A neighbor, Kimberly Keith, posted on Facebook that she could see FBI agents stationed outside Newell's home, ordering him over a loudspeaker to come out and surrender.
After that, Keith heard gunshots and an ambulance arrived shortly but the judge was already dead.
During the investigation, Newell denied knowing anything about the camera, and said that another adult male and four boys had used the cabin the day before. Later, when he was being interviewed, Newell reportedly chewed and swallowed a camera memory card.
Investigators later forced him to take a CT scan that showed he had Newell, ingested a foreign object, according to the complaint.
Newell, a Republican, was appointed as a judge by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in 2016, and started a 15-year term in 2018.
