ISLE OF WIGHT
A City of Franklin employee who was arrested on May 23 on eight felony warrants for distribution of child pornography is back in jail on more charges. Lt. Tommy Potter, spokesman for the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office, made the announcement on Thursday morning.

Christopher Alan Hogge, 48, of Battery Park, is listed on the City of Franklin’s website as the director of Social Services. His status is “suspended without pay,” said City Manager Randy Martin.

Potter said that investigators arrested Hogge on 11 more felony warrants on Wednesday.

“The additional charges come as a result of an extensive forensic review of several electronic devices taken from his home during an execution of a search warrant in May of 2016,” said Potter.

He added that these charges are one count of distribution of child pornography and 10 counts of 2nd offense distribution of child pornography.

The investigator said that after Hogge had been arrested in May, research into case law concerning the first charges showed that that Virginia code (18.2-374.1 Joseph Papol versus the Commonwealth of Virginia) had changed in late 2014, and states that when why you have a person who has distribution or possession of multiple pictures of child pornography, every picture after the first is considered a second offense.

“It’s one of the few laws where you don’t need a first offense conviction to have a second offense charge,” Potter said. “The legislature intended to send a very strict message that distribution or possession of child pornography is a serious offense.”

Hogge, who had been out on a $25,000 bond, was taken into custody at his residence and remanded to Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk with no bond. He had an arraignment scheduled on Thursday in Isle of Wight General District Court.