Md. Grand Jury Indicts OC Man On Five Counts

OCEAN CITY -- An Ocean City man, arrested on child pornography charges last year after an investigation into his alleged illicit activities dating back to June 2010, was formally indicted last week in U.S. District Court by a Maryland state grand jury.

In December, Ocean City Police arrested Laurence John Bode, 60, of Ocean City after a Worcester County grand jury indicted him on 16 child pornography possession and distribution charges. The county grand jury indicted Bode after a nearly two-year investigation into his alleged activities dating back to June 2010. However, before Bode’s case could come to trial in Worcester County Circuit Court, a Maryland grand jury indicted him in U.S. District Court last week on five counts ranging from possession to distribution of child pornography, turning the case into a federal one.

Police began investigating Bode in July 2010 after being contacted about his alleged activities by a Homeland Security special agent-in-charge assigned to the Ocean City office. The special agent informed OCPD detectives Bode was allegedly distributing images of child pornography over the Internet. At the conclusion of the investigation, a Worcester grand jury indicted Bode on 16 different counts, but the federal indictment handed down last week supersedes the local indictment and Bode will now be tried in U.S. District Court.

The federal indictment includes five total counts including two for distribution of child pornography, two for knowingly receiving child porn and a fifth, which covers his alleged possession of child pornography over a period of 10 months from January to October 2010. The two distribution counts allege Bode knowingly distributed over the Internet visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Following the service of the federal warrant on Bode last week, the suspect was released under strict rules of supervision including a complete lockdown at his residence until an electronic monitoring system could be put in place. Once the monitoring system is in place, Bode will still have to adhere to a strict curfew imposed by the court.