The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said a Chapel Hill resident faces four counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor following a months-long investigation.

A release Thursday morning said investigators charged 26-year-old Trefor Vaughn Studenberg in connection to a tip received by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force in Oct. 2024. Studenberg turned himself in to the magistrate’s office on Wednesday.

Third-degree exploitation, according to the sheriff’s office, involves having material “containing a visual representation of a minor engaged in sexual activity.”

Citing the terms of the Pre-Trial Integrity Act, the magistrate placed Studenberg in the custody of the detention center under no bond. His first court appearance on the charges is set for 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Investigator K. Steward is leading the case, and anyone with additional information is asked to call him at 919-245-2925.

Later Thursday, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office announced charges in a separate case against another Chapel Hill man. Joseph Alexander Sigman, 25, is facing 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

The sheriff’s office says it received a cyber trip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to Sigman’s KIK account. Investigators with the sheriff’s office say they obtained a search warrant for the account and found images of child sexual abuse.

The sheriff’s office said it and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation then executed another warrant at the residence relating to Sigman’s IP address: 10228 Governors Drive in Chapel Hill. Several electronic devices were seized and examined, leading to Sigman’s arrest.

Sigman was issued a $50,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in Chatham County District Court in Pittsboro on March 3.

 

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