Largo Puppeteer Pleads Not Guilty to Child Porn Charges

A Largo puppeteer who authorities said chatted online about cannibalizing a local boy pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of possessing and receiving child pornography, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

"Ronald William Brown, 57, entered the plea during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Tampa, and he remains held without bail pending trial," the Times reports. "A trial date has not yet been scheduled."

Brown was accused in July by federal agents of conspiring to kidnap a child at his church, talking online about cooking and eating children and having child pornography at his Whispering Pines residence.

Criminal complaint documents showed Brown allegedly chatted online with a Kansas man last year about kidnapping and eating children, describing how they would abduct them and cook their body parts on a stove.

The case shocked members of Gulf Coast Church, where Brown had volunteered for years in the children's ministry.

But Brown was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on just one count of possessing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography. Brown's mobile home had been searched twice by federal agents, who said they found images of child pornography, children engaged in bondage and images of what appear to be dead children.

Brown has maintained his innocence, with his attorney saying Brown never intended to hurt a child.

More coverage:

• Largo Puppeteer Waives Bail Hearing
• Puppeteer's Home Searched Again in Child Porn Case
• Puppeteer's Child Porn Arrest Shock's Local Church
• Largo Puppeteer Claims Innocence in Child Porn Case