Manatee man returned to face child porn charges

MANATEE — A man arrested in Indiana on child porn warrants out of Manatee County has been returned to face his charges, according to Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reports.

Derrick Faircloth, 39, was booked in the Manatee County jail Tuesday on 49 counts of possession of child pornography. He had been in an Indiana jail after being pulled over Nov. 5 for a routine traffic stop.

Faircloth left the state after initially getting out of jail on sex charges stemming from the claims of three girls, ages 14, 16 and 17.

In July, detectives arrested Faircloth after the girls said he gave them alcohol, and gave one of the girls a Xanax pill.

The victims said Faircloth was known to have parties at his house where alcohol was served. The first victim to come forward, the 16-year-old, said Faircloth took her into a room and raped her after she drank “a lot” of alcohol at one of the parties. She later told detectives she never would have allowed Faircloth to do what he did if she had not had the alcohol, sheriff’s reports said.

Two other girls, ages 14 and 17, came forward to say Faircloth molested them at parties while they were drunk, and also showed them pornography.

After the allegations, detectives arrested Faircloth on charges of sexual battery, two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, three counts of introduction of obscene material to a minor, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.

Detectives also seized his computer, which was later found to have dozens of sexually explicit pictures of one of the victims, according to sheriff’s reports.

Warrants on 49 counts of child possession of child pornography were obtained in late October based on the discovery of the images on his computer. Faircloth also still faces the initial charges against him.