POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A registered sex offender from North Carolina has been arrested in Montana on a Polk County warrant tied to child sex crime charges, deputies said.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) detectives said they identified 39-year-old Courtney Robert Stanhope of Baker, Montana, during a Cyber Crimes investigation. Detectives obtained a warrant charging him with 15 counts related to sex crimes against children.
On Sept. 30, the Fallon County Sheriff’s Office arrested Stanhope. He is being held in Montana and will be extradited to Polk County.
Stanhope is a registered sex offender in North Carolina after a 2021 arrest for possession of child pornography while serving in the U.S. Navy. He admitted to detectives then that he had been addicted to child pornography since his teenage years and compared it to a drug addiction. He pled guilty to 10 charges, was placed on supervised probation, and was required to register as a sex offender for a minimum of 30 years.
Polk County detectives said Stanhope engaged in sexually explicit conversations online with an undercover detective posing as a 15-year-old boy. According to investigators, Stanhope sent multiple images of child pornography and described abusing children as young as 7 years old.
“We can only hope that if there are victims out there, they have the courage to come forward so that he can be appropriately charged,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “If you know this man, and you have children, please contact your local law enforcement agency. He needs to never, ever see the outside of a prison.”
Stanhope faces eight counts of promoting sexual performance by a child, five counts of transmission of material harmful to a minor, use of a computer to seduce a child, and use of a two-way communication device in the commission of a felony.
This is an ongoing investigation.
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