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EL DORADO, KANSAS: Joel Justice Womochil, a 38-year-old former police chief of a small town in Kansas and a popular TikTok creator, has been arrested for apparently trading incest videos on a secret social media account and storing child pornography.
On October 6, he was slammed with 24 counts of sexual exploitation of a child and 10 counts of aggravated internet trading of child pornography.
In February 2022, Womochil was appointed police chief of the 250-person town of Burns, Kansas, where he served as a nonviolent crisis prevention instructor until his abrupt resignation in early August, as per The Daily Beast.
At that time, he stated that his resignation was in the "best interest of me and this department," though he continued working part-time as a detention deputy in neighboring Butler County.
Before taking up his role as a police chief, Womochil was a US Army combat medic. In the past, he has also worked as an armed security guard, a property manager, a correctional officer, and a convenience store manager, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Womochil's TikTok account had over 218,300 followers, and he often uploaded videos while wearing full police gear, either promoting himself or making responses to the content of other users.
What led to Joel Justice Womochil's arrest?
Joel Justice Womochil was arrested after an investigation was launched into his alleged crimes following a suspicious tip that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received in a CyberTipline report from Synchronoss Technologies, stating that a particular account had backed up a dozen video and image files of egregious child abuse.
Law enforcement was then alerted by NCMEC authorities, and agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the DHS' investigation division, were assigned to the case.
They used "databases available to law enforcement" to trace the account to a phone belonging to Womochil, according to The Daily Beast.
The former chief was allegedly running an X (formerly Twitter) account with the username @ictbaddad and a profile picture of a "Pedobear."
Court documents describe "Pedobear" as "a pedophilia cartoon utilized by some individual engaged in the pedophile community," along with that "it can be used by this community to identify individuals who have a sexual interest in children."
In the bio, Womochil allegedly described himself as a "38 w male looking 4 that special girl that was raised right and wants 2 continue the tradition. If u luv the little things In life message on Wire same name."
What was discovered from Joel Justice Womochil’s account?
During the investigation, investigators apparently discovered 15 images posted on the suspected secret account of Joel Justice Womochil, many of which were pictures of a male's private parts.
They additionally discovered that the images of the individual were taken inside the accused's El Dorado home.
Moreover, officials found 851 thumbnail images linked to a hard drive on Womochil's laptop and numerous images of child exploitation material.
Additionally, court records describe a chat Womochil had with another unnamed individual on his account in February, demonstrating that the former police chief was accepting payment in exchange for the exploitative materials, according to Daily Mail.
