Hoskins was arraigned in Hamilton Municipal Court on Tuesday morning on the charges, which stem from a tip Butler County Sheriff’s Detective Janee Lambert received from Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC). That tip came originated from Dropbox when officials reported it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), according to her court testimony Tuesday.
“Dropbox sent NCMEC the cyber tip, notifying them there’s child exploitation and child pornography being downloaded into the dropbox associated with the name Alex Hoskins,” Lambert said.
That tip came to Lambert’s attention last fall, who obtained a search warrant for that Dropbox account. She was provided verification the account belonged to Hoskins, the IP address associated with the account, and the graphic images downloaded to the Dropbox account.
Lambert reviewed those images and testified they “depicted children of various ages, from newborn all the way to the ages of 14, 15 years old in the state of nudity while adults were performing sex acts on them.”
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security served a search warrant at around 12:30 p.m. on May 10 at Hoskins’ Jennifer Drive home in Ross Twp.
Hoskins confronted law enforcement with a handgun. He pointed his weapon at an approaching deputy, the deputy fired his service weapon, wounding Hoskins in the chest. The deputy, Ricky Phillips, is on administrative duty as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations looks into the shooting. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said last week it “looks like a good shoot.”
The Ohio BCI investigation could take up to six weeks, Jones said.
Phillips, who is now a detective, was the deputy who shot and killed a suspect on Jan. 11 after a several-hour standoff at the Lakota Pointe Townhomes following a response to a domestic report. An investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office said Junius Thomas, 31, raised a weapon in a doorway, and the Phillips fired.
Hoskins was taken to Kettering Health Hamilton for treatment and was arrested upon his release. Investigators interviewed Hoskins last week and said he confessed to possessing child pornography and sending and receiving pornographic images and videos of children.
Hoskins remains at the medical wing of the Warren County Jail for medical treatment at the request of the Butler County Jail.
A BCI investigator interviewed Hoskins last week and testified Tuesday that the 26-year-old said Dropbox notified him the Butler County Sheriff’s Office searched his account and anticipated a search warrant being executed.
The investigator also said Hoskins admitted to allegedly purchasing a firearm with the intent to kill himself or “commit suicide by cop.” He also testified, said Hoskins confessed he was “addicted to child pornography.”
Hoskins’ bond remains at $200,000.
