Man accused of stealing from Triad elementary school multiple times; several other thefts
RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C (WGHP) — A man is being accused of multiple thefts from a Triad elementary school as well as a number of other locations, according to the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.
On March 13, deputies and Ramseur police were investigating a theft on Brady Street, Ext. when they developed probable cause for a search warrant at a home on Brinton Place in Ramsuer.
Someone living at the home, 36-year-old Ryan Chace Pittman, was identified as a suspect.
The search led to the recovery of a 'large quantity' of property, according to investigators. Some of the items seized had been reported stolen from eight other active cases, including one at Ramseur Elementary School in 2023.
Pittman was taken into custody at the home and taken to the detention center on four counts of misdemeanor possession of stolen goods/property and given a $15,000 secured bond and made a first appearance on March 14.
On March 14, additional charges were brought against Pittman for felony larceny after break/enter, felony breaking and/or entering, and misdemeanor injury to personal property for a breaking and entering reported at Ramseur Elementary in February 2025.
He was given an additional $10,000 secured bond for those charges and appeared in court on March 17.
On March 17, Pittman was additionally charged with r felony larceny, felony possession of stolen goods, misdemeanor damage to coin/currency machine, misdemeanor break coin/currency machine, and misdemeanor injury to personal property for a larceny that took place in August 2024. Pittman was served with the warrant and held without bond due to the Pre-trial Integrity Act. He appeared in court on March 18.
On March 20, additional evidence was seized at the Brinton Place home that investigators identified as more stolen goods. Among those items was a large display sign belonging to a Ramseur business on Jordan Road.
For the March 20 search, Pittman was charged with misdemeanor possession of stolen goods/property and held without bond once again. He appeared in court on March 21.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Ohio man investigated after AI-generated child porn found, says he did it for ‘shock factor'
An Ohio man is in jail after investigators discovered AI-generated child sexual abuse material. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The investigation began in January 2025 when a task force received multiple reports of a Kik user uploading suspected child sexual abuse material, our news partners at WBNS reported. Most of the reports shared an IP address, which was traced to a duplex in Columbus. Authorities began surveillance on the Columbus duplex and identified a vehicle registered to a family member of the suspect. By March 2025, investigators learned the suspect and his family had moved to Hilliard. On April 29, investigators obtained a search warrant for the new address. TRENDING STORIES: Solicitor doesn't have required permits, resists arrest after reports of suspicious behavior 2 taken to area hospital after wrong-way crash on SR 4 in Huber Heights 1 dead after shooting near Fairborn apartment complex According to the affidavit, Austin Pittman was present at the time and admitted to creating Kik accounts under the username that had triggered the original reports. He also admitted to viewing and sharing child sexual abuse material 'for the shock factor,' the affidavit says. According to the affidavit, investigators say Pittman had used a family photo containing juveniles and digitally altered it to depict the children nude. Several altered files included a note reading 'Powered by AI-generated.' Pittman was discharged from the Army under 'Other than Honorable' conditions, court documents state. Pittman was formally charged with additional federal crimes related to the production and possession of morphed or AI-generated child pornography. He is currently in custody at the Franklin County Jail. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Hilliard man used AI to create child porn, shared it on Kik, feds say
A Hilliard man faces federal criminal charges accusing him of producing nude AI-generated images on children. Austin Pittman, 25, is charged with distribution and possession of child pornography, possessing AI-generated child pornography, and production of AI-generated child pornography on June 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received several tips that a user on the instant messaging app Kik had sent another user suspected child sexual abuse material from June to September 2024, according to court records. The videos appeared to show a child and an adult engaged in sexual activities. Members of the task force traced the IP address to a duplex on East Beck Street in Columbus' Schumacher Place neighborhood, where Pittman lived, according to court records. Law enforcement traced activity from the Kik username to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where Pittman had previously been stationed before he was given an "other than honorable discharge" from the U.S. Army, according to court records. In March 2025, Pittman and his family moved to Hilliard. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for his home there and arrested him on April 29. Pittman told officials he was viewing the child sexual abuse material for "shock value." He said he had a porn addiction and was sending the images and videos to other people in exchange for more porn, according to court records. Police seized his phone and found 200 more images, including nude images of two minor children he generated using AI and family photos, according to court records. Pittman remains in the Franklin County Jail awaiting a June 21 court hearing. The Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force includes several area and federal law enforcement agencies, including Columbus and Hilliard police, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office and Homeland Security Investigations. Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man used AI to create porn shared on Kik, feds say
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Chinese bioweapon smuggling case shows US 'trains our enemies,' 'learned nothing' from COVID: security expert
In response to the Department of Justice charging two Chinese nationals – including a University of Michigan research fellow – with allegedly smuggling a potential "agroterrorism" weapon into the U.S., national security experts tell Fox News Digital that the Trump administration must continue to take action to prevent American colleges and companies from "essentially educating and arming our chief adversary in the world." "In some cases, it seems like we learned nothing from COVID," Christian Whiton, a former senior foreign policy advisor in the Bush and Trump administrations, told Fox News Digital. "We allow direct flights now from China to the U.S. mainland. Again, that is crazy. And the whole fact that we are allowing researchers, even in the realm of dealing with pathogens to have access anywhere in the United States, much less the universities, is pretty insane. It seems like a pre-COVID mindset." The two Chinese nationals were charged Tuesday with smuggling Fusarium graminearum fungus, a dangerous biological pathogen and "known agroterrorism agent" responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year, through Detroit's airport. The noxious substance causes "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, according to federal prosecutors. In humans and livestock, exposure to its toxins causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects. "It's a new take on Chinese espionage and sabotage of the US economy. But it's not a surprise. I think that China has failed to pull back on any of its aggressive activity. And this is something that the Trump administration probably wants to take into consideration," Whiton said of the case. "I think it's both the government and our universities have let down the American people." Patel Sounds Alarm As Chinese Nationals Charged With Smuggling 'Agroterrorism Agent' Into Us: 'Direct Threat' Whiton told Fox News Digital that Chinese infiltration of U.S. institutions has been happening since at least the 1990s – when Chinese spies stole American nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico – and since then, "there's been this systemic desire to put Chinese nationals into especially these technical areas, technical universities." Whiton said Beijing does not consider only Chinese citizens as its agents, as "anyone of Chinese ethnicity" have been viewed as "fair game" to be recruited. He categorized the H1-B visa program as essentially a "scam," asserting that about a quarter are awarded to Chinese nationals who "end up at some of our high-tech companies." Read On The Fox News App Traditionally, Whiton explained, Republicans have believed universities should run themselves without political interference, but doing so has allowed such institutions to be taken over by left-wingers. "Taxpayers are funding these things and shouldn't be forced to fund things that are anathema to their beliefs and what they know to be true. Things like we shouldn't train our enemies at taxpayer expense," Whiton said. "So, I think it goes along with Republicans being pretty wimpy in the past, but only more recently with the emergence of the new right and the MAGA movement finally taking a tougher stand on some of these left-wing universities." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the United States does not want to de-couple with China, though Beijing has a choice whether to be a reliable partner. "The reality is China is kind of doing what it has always done," Whiton said. "So if we're looking for a change of Chinese conduct because of President Trump being in office, it just hasn't happened yet. So I can't say that's a surprise." Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration would "aggressively" revoke the student visas for Chinese nationals, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields." After a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which the White House said focused mostly on trade, President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that Chinese students were still coming and the U.S. would be "honored" to have them. Yet, the president said the students need to be properly "checked" and the administration wants lists of Chinese nationals admitted to schools, such as Harvard and Columbia, so that vetting can occur. Trump Touts 'Very Positive' Breakthrough With Xi After Slamming China For Trade Violation "That's a step in the right direction," Whiton said. "But in reality, we probably need to recognize these are our chief economic and security adversary in the world and take those visa numbers down closer to zero and start sending these people home." Whiton said there is a "faulty assumption" that Chinese students would come to the United States, learn about American culture and bring an appreciation back home to China. "In reality, they sort of come over here, they're in a bubble, they pick up technical skills, and then they go back to China and put them to use for either the military directly or for corporations that are either utilized by the Chinese military or that are trying to undermine U.S. technology companies," Whiton said. "We really are essentially educating and arming our chief adversary in the world." Former Rep. Michelle Steel, a California Republican who served on the House foreign and intelligence committees, told Fox News Digital that Chinese students educated in the U.S. essentially return home without an appreciation for America. "After they study here, they took all of our brains here, and they took everything back to their country, and they are using to attack United States. And they hate United States after that education. Guess what we are teaching in the universities? Not love United States!" Steel, who was born in Korea and grew up in Japan, told Fox News Digital. "They are studying some very sensitive things in our universities. We really had to vet them well." In her eyes, U.S. universities have prioritized bringing in international students for economic gain. "Because of all the money," she said. "They try to build their endowments, and they want to just show how big their research center is." She cited the case against former Chair of Harvard University's Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, Dr. Charles Lieber, who was convicted in 2023 of lying to federal authorities about his affiliation with the People's Republic of China's Thousand Talents Program and the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in Wuhan, China. Federal prosecutors said Lieber had been paid $1.5 million by the CCP and failed to report additional income of $50,000 payments per month from the WUT. "It's not just at University of Michigan, but it's just everywhere," Steel said. "We cannot bring everybody in to these universities and studying together and helping to build CCP's military. That's just totally no-no, because you know what they're doing in the Pacific areas and African countries and South American countries. And they're just expanding everywhere. And we are the only one [who] can stop [it]. And I think President Trump is doing great job." The former congresswoman pointed to how the House Select Committee on the CCP in 2023 uncovered a $220 million payment made by the Chinese government to the University of California at Berkeley to help build a massive, joint institute in China – funding which UC Berkeley failed to disclose under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. She has advocated for legislation that would decrease the reporting requirement from $250,000 to $50,000. Steel also noted that Stanford University – located in the heart of Silicon Valley in California – has a relationship with China's Peking University, which in turn has ties to the Chinese military and "goes straight into the nuclear program." The current chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., penned a letter to Stanford in March over concerns about U.S. universities "admitting large numbers of Chinese nationals into advanced STEM programs, potentially at the expense of qualified Americans."Original article source: Chinese bioweapon smuggling case shows US 'trains our enemies,' 'learned nothing' from COVID: security expert