Brian Burnham entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, on Tuesday morning, during his arraignment hearing on child pornography charges.
Burnham, the 36-year-old former Assistant Scout Master with Boy Scout Troop 845 based out of Carrboro, appeared in federal court in Greensboro facing charges of knowingly receiving child pornography and knowingly distributing and attempting to distribute child pornography.
The investigation began in November 2014 with a cybertip from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
In the search warrant, an investigator swore that Burnham has not spoken face to face with juveniles about sexual topics: adding that Burnham only talks to the juveniles about these topics via the internet and cell phone.
Burnham’s defense attorneys argue that, however inappropriate some of those messages may be, the ones quoted do not support any inference that Burnham may have committed any sexual crimes against the minor males or attempted to entice any of the minor males to do so.
Burnham was released from jail in mid-February after his bond was posted under several guidelines laid out by the court, including that he would reside with his mother in Matthews, and he would have no access to the internet or cell phones. He also submitted to electronic monitoring.
Burnham has a hearing scheduled for April 6 to discuss any motions or change of plea. His jury trial is slated for April 13.
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