A 50-year-old judge from Maryland died by suicide on Friday (local time)
apparently in a bid to avoid child exploitation charges. Jonathan G. Newell (50)
was pronounced dead at 06:43 am at his home in Henderson. The US Attorney’s
Office put out a statement saying that the judge died from a self-inflicted gunshot
wound as federal agents approached to arrest him.

Judge Jonathan Newell was being investigated for hiding a camera in the
bathroom of his hunting lodge and allegedly watching children while they
bathed. Newell was on leave from his bench after a police raid took place on
July 24 at his home, truck and judicial office.

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According to police officials, the raids took place after Newell took a
child to a hunting trip on Hooper’s Island. The child complained that Newell
had hidden a camera in the bathroom of the lodge, according to a report in the
Baltimore Sun.

After the child’s parents launched a complaint, police confronted judge
Newell at his home. The judge denied knowing anything about the camera. During
a confrontation between the judge and the police, the judge asked if he could
plug his phone into a charger in a separate room.

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Authorities said that while going to plug his phone judge Newell leaned down
and they saw him close his right fist in front of his mouth. Then, they heard
crunching noises and saw him drink water from a cup kept on the dresser, the
FBI said.

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Legal authorities immediately took him to a hospital and secured a warrant
to have a CT scan performed on him. The scan indicated that the judge had
ingested a “foreign object”.

FBI said they believe the object that the judge ingested was the memory
card from the alleged hidden camera in his hunting lodge room. Authorities
recovered a hard drive that allegedly contained several videos of young men showering.
The judge could be seen setting up the camera, according to the FBI.