Professional bowler arrested in the middle of the US Open on child porn charges

A professional bowler was arrested in the middle of one of the biggest competitions of the year, the 2024 U.S. Open, and the charges he currently faces relate to child sexual abuse material.

Earlier this month, Brandon Novak, a 35-year-old bowler who has been competing on the professional circuit for nearly a decade, was in the middle of his second game at the U.S. Open at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis when members of the U.S. Marshals came in and placed him in handcuffs. Though the arrest was not captured on video, a brief clip of the broadcast of the event, shared on YouTube by 11thframe, seems to show the moment the arrest occurred as various bowlers continuously turn their attention toward a distraction elsewhere in the bowling alley.

Virtually nothing to see, but here's when Brandon Novak was arrested at 2024 U S Openwww.youtube.com

Despite his early exit from the tournament, Novak still finished in 36th place, good enough for $1,500 in winnings.

For now, that money seems to be the only bright spot for Novak, who has since been slapped with 15 charges: five counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and 10 charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. He has since been extradited from Indianapolis to his home state of Ohio.

The investigation into Novak began in Chillicothe, Ohio, a year ago, when police received a tip that his Facebook account had been linked to online child pornography. Chillicothe cops then executed a search warrant at his residence.

Reports say that during an interview, Novak initially acknowledged to investigators that he had purchased explicit material from someone on Snapchat but that he did not know the material contained images of a minor. He then reportedly changed his story and admitted that he had purchased the child sexual abuse material deliberately and then tried to cover his tracks.

Last Thursday, Novak was booked into the Ross County jail, where he remains in custody. He is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on March 21.

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