I-TEAM: New video shows arrest of local business man at center of child porn investigation
The Eaton businessman who was arrested and charged this week in connection to a nearly two-year-long child pornography investigation made his first court appearance on Friday.
News Center 7 was inside the courtroom at Preble County Common Pleas Court when Ernest Hatmaker, 53, appeared before a judge via video from the Preble County Jail. There, his attorney entered a not-guilty plea for all six of the charges he’s facing.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: I-TEAM: Multi-year investigation leads to child porn arrest in Preble County
While in court, the judge set Hatmaker’s bond at $10,000 and ordered him to surrender his passport.
The I-Team’s lead investigator, John Bedell spoke with Hatmaker’s attorney after Friday’s hearing.
“It’s very early in the proceedings, but we have full faith in the system and we expect that when Mr. Hatmaker has his day in court, he’ll be exonerated,” James Fleischer said.
As News Center 7 previously reported, Hatmaker was formally charged this week with six child pornography charges. He was arrested and booked in jail on Wednesday.
New video obtained by the I-Team showed Eaton police arresting Hatmaker during a traffic stop on Wednesday. In the video shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, police appeared to have been waiting for Hatmaker on his way home.
Eaton officers arrest Hatmaker and then hand him over to a Preble County Sheriff’s detective who pulled up to the scene.
“He’s all yours,” one officer says to the detective.
Video from the cruiser camera shows deputies putting Hatmaker in handcuffs. He’s silent as they tell him they have a warrant for his arrest.
>> RELATED: I-TEAM: FBI investigating possible child porn related to search warrant at Eaton businessman’s home
A woman in the truck police pulled over asks about what’s happening.
“You remember when the FBI came out and went through the house? It’s related to all of that,” the detective tells her.
“Still?” the woman responds.
The charges Hatmaker is facing stem from an investigation that started in February 2022, when the Internet Crimes Against Children, or ICAC, Task Force contacted detectives with the Preble County Sheriff’s Office regarding “the sharing of potential child pornography via the Kik app,” and forwarded deputies “a total of six videos.”
Hatmaker’s home was raided by investigators from the FBI and the Preble County Sheriff’s Office in June 2022.
Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson told News Center 7′s I-Team on Thursday that the FBI is no longer involved in the case.
“They did not feel that it met the threshold for federal charges, so it was turned back over to our investigators,” Simpson said.
