A drag queen in Pennsylvania has been charged with 25 counts of child pornography and 18 counts of criminal use of a communications facility after a two-year investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.
According to Tri-State Alert, Brice Patric Ryschon Williams, of Chambersburg allegedly uploaded and shared more than 135 videos and pictures containing child pornography. At least 49 of the 76 files featured children under the age of 18 performing sexual acts. The 26-year-old man is in custody in Franklin County Prison. His bail was set to $100,000.
The Tri-State Alert also listed the many organizations Williams was a part of many of which involved children,
Brice Williams is also a board member of the Franklin County Coalition for Progress, serves on the Pride Franklin County Committee, and the United Way of Chambersburg’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee. He has been a prominent advocate for LGBTQ rights especially in Chambersburg, championing the LGBTQ Non-discrimination ordinance push in 2021, given a FAB Rising Star Award 2020 by the the LGBT Center of Central PA, is or was recently an HIV medical case manager at Keystone Health Center in Chambersburg, and currently works for GLO Harrisburg, a center that offers a “safe space” for LGBTQ+ youth of color. Williams is also a licensed social worker with a Masters Degree in Social Work from Shippensburg University.
It all started from a tip that was submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in May 2020. The tip was about sexually explicit files including minors.
Investigators found that the files were allegedly uploaded to a Dropbox that was connected to an email address belonging to Anastasia Diamond, or Ana D. – which is the name Williams used while in drag.
Two months later, another tip was submitted containing more explicit files. A search warrant was issued for the Dropbox account and that’s when the 135 files containing child pornography were found.
Investigators were able to track the home suspected of uploading the illegal files in 2021 and confirmed Williams lived in the home. Once they verified Williams’ drag name was Anastasia Diamond and found a recovery email address for the Anna D Dropbox with Williams’ name on it they were able to obtain a search warrant for the home.
At least 25 child pornography files were found on Williams’ phone, which according to investigators was a small sample of the explicit contents on the phone.
Investigators say Williams admitted to possessing and sharing child pornography saying he was first introduced to it in 2014 and started to share it with others.
He was arrested and take to Franklin County Corrections. According to Tri-State Alert Williams posted bail on June 24 and is due in court on July 5.
