By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

(July 21, 2022) An Ocean Pines man facing nearly 100 charges of child sex abuse and child pornography has pled guilty to some of those charges.

The guilty plea came on the morning of July 12, ahead of what would have been the first day of a two-day trial that was scheduled to conclude the following day.

“The court has not yet set the sentencing date, however, I would anticipate it being set sometime around October,” State’s Attorney Kris Heiser said in an email. “He continues to be held pending sentencing.”

The charges to which 37-year-old Bruce Travers pled guilty include multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor and manufacturing child pornography and one count of sex abuse of a minor by a household member.

Heiser added that the sentencing was postponed for a pre-sentence investigation.

Travers was indicted in October on 43 misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography, 37 felony counts of soliciting a subject for child pornography, four counts of filming a child in a sex act, two counts of sexually abusing a minor, and two counts of sexually abusing a minor who either lived in the household or was a family member.

Each of those charges stemmed from reported incidents between June 1, 2018, and July 31, 2021, according to court documents.

A second case was brought against Travers that started in May 2021. In addition to the 87 charges brought against him in the first instance, he is also charged with single counts of sexually abusing a minor, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

Travers faces 91 charges in all, with more than half of them felonies. Forty-three are misdemeanors for possessing child pornography.

Travers, a former employee of Little Lambs and Community Church in Berlin, was arrested by Maryland State Police on Aug. 21, 2021, and indicted in October.

He was expected to take a position with Worcester County Public Schools before the district was notified of the allegations against him. Although he was not an employee of the school district, he had worked as a substitute and intern there previously.

The Maryland State Police computer crime unit received a tip about Travers’ alleged activity by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to court documents.

An image traced back to a home on Brandywine Drive in Ocean Pines depicted four juvenile boys in a sex act. At the time, the home was being rented to Travers.

After an investigation, a search and seizure warrant was executed at home by state and local police officers on Aug. 20, with Travers inside.

Police recovered laptops, cell phones, memory cards, and thumb drives during the search, according to court documents, and individually wrapped children’s underwear.

Travers admitted to police that he possessed child pornography, but denied touching children sexually, according to court documents. He also told police that children have stayed at his home previously, including three who were between 7 and 10 years old.

An investigation found Travers had stayed at the home with the children’s guardian on and off from June 2018 to July 2021. The documents said he earned the trust to take care of the children at his home in Ocean Pines.

An examination of devices seized during the search contained several pornographic images of those children, court documents said.

Staff Writer Greg Wehner contributed to this report.