Eutaw man charged with 28 counts of child porn

•    Charges also include sexual abuse of three children

 Article contributed by The Journal Record

By TRACY ESTES

News Editor

Winfield - A Eutaw man now living in Winfield has been arrested and charged with 28 counts of possession of child pornography along with three counts of indecent exposure and three counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

William Joseph Humphreys remains in the Marion County Jail in Hamilton almost two weeks after his arrest by the Winfield Police Department.

The 28-year-old man was arrested in Scottsboro at the private trucking company where he was employed.

Humphreys was arrested on Jan. 28 with assistance from the Scottsboro department.

He faces charges involving three young girls--two of the girls are four years old while the third is five.

All three victims are direct or indirect family members.

His bond of more than $560,000 has been revoked due to a violation in relation to another case, therefore his retention in the county jail.

Officers from Scottsboro in unmarked vehicles waited near the entrance to the local business where the man was working only to radio the two Winfield officers sitting nearby.

As Humphreys placed the commercial truck in park, the Winfield officers rolled into the business’ parking lot to make the arrest.

In the end, almost a dozen agencies have been involved in the process to locate and arrest Humphreys.

While the search ended in Scottsboro late last month, the legal process began almost an entire year earlier as the man entered the Winfield Police Department to express concern for his own safety.

Humphreys filed a report saying his family members had threatened to kill him. His statement was taken by a local officer which served to begin the legal process.

Investigation into the case allowed local officers to learn why his family members may have made such threats.

Considering the nature of the case and the accusations made, the Marion County Department of Human Resources was asked to assist in the earliest stages of the case.

The mother of two of the victims to be involved in the abuse was the first to report the turn of events to local authorities based on the timeline in the case from the Winfield department.

Expanding the case beyond Marion County is the fact the suspect was arrested by the University of Alabama Police Department in Tuscaloosa due to multiple counts of indecent exposure where the man had allegedly driven while nude below the waist only to exit his vehicle and expose himself to a number of female students on the campus.

Eventually, the suspect’s phone was confiscated over the course of the investigation with 28 nude photos of the three victims discovered.

The suspect also allegedly attempted to maintain contact with the family members in spite of a court order not to do so.

Contact ranged from a large volume of phone calls and text messages to items being left in family members’ mailboxes.

Learning of connections in the Winfield and Tuscaloosa cases, the departments began to work closely together in an effort to build a solid case.

An initial six-count indictment was handed down by a Marion County Grand Jury in June 2014 followed by the man’s arrest less than a month later.

Less than three months later in October, Humphreys was arrested in Tuscaloosa and charged with domestic violence trespassing after one of his victims reported seeing him outside her bedroom window.

When Humphreys failed to appear in a Tuscaloosa court in January 2015 in connection with the domestic trespassing case, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Authorities began a search with the process ending with the suspect’s Scottsboro arrest.

Lending aid at some point in this process were various departments, including the Winfield Police Department, Marion County District Attorney’s Office, Marion County Sheriff’s Department, Green County Sheriff’s Department, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department, Tuscaloosa Police Department, University of Alabama Police Department, Marion County Department of Human Resources, Tuscaloosa County Department of Human Resources, Scottsboro Police Department, and the U.S. Secret Service Alabama Electronic Crimes Task Force.

“Our primary concern from the beginning has been for the three victims,’’ said Winfield Police Department Investigator Brett Burleson.

“But I must express my appreciation to each and every department involved as this case would not have come to an end had everyone not been so willing to help us. I want to thank every officer and others involved.’’

(When a defendant is charged with a crime, the charge is merely an accusation until or unless the defendant is proven guilty.)