A senior deputy and detective who has worked for 27 years for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Tuesday and charged with child sexual abuse in Carroll County, where he lives.

Ryan Christopher Hall, 50, of Woodbine, was arrested by members of the Carroll County Advocacy and Investigation Center and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, according to a Wednesday news release from the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Hall was assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office at the time of his arrest. According to the HCSO, “Hall’s law enforcement powers were immediately suspended with pay and he was removed from the workplace” as soon as they were notified of the charges.

He is charged with two counts of sex abuse of a minor, two counts of continuing course of conduct with a child, 10 counts of child pornography filming in a sex act, 10 counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of visual surveillance of a private area.

Each charge carries penalties that range from one year to 30 years in prison.

Hall waived his right to a bail review Wednesday. He is due back in court on Nov. 20 for a preliminary hearing, court documents state.

According to charging documents, police found thousands of files containing sexually explicit images and videos of children in Hall’s possession after a person who lives in the home reported finding a hidden camera in their bathroom floor on Oct. 7.

When questioned by police, Hall admitted to hiding a camera in the bathroom, according to the charging documents, stating, “I did put that there because I have a problem.”

The person who found the camera told police that Hall had begun sexually abusing them and another person when they were both between the ages of 10 and 13 years old.

On Oct. 8, Carroll County police executed a search warrant on Hall’s home and seized a transmitter and hard drive from the bathroom and four USB drives and an SD, or secure digital card from a desk in Hall’s bedroom. Hall told police that he had captured images and videos of sexual abuse he committed against children living in his home and stored the images on an old phone and on USB thumb drives that he stored in his car, according to charging documents.

On Oct. 9, police executed search warrants on Hall’s personal vehicle and on his duty vehicle that he was assigned by the Harford sheriff’s office. From his duty vehicle, police seized multiple USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and a camera. From his personal vehicle, police seized two cellphones, four DVDs, and a motion detecting hidden WiFi camera, according to charging documents.

The sheriff’s office said that it had “no information that these crimes were committed with the use of HCSO equipment or during the course of Hall’s on duty hours.”

In a statement posted on Facebook, Harford Sheriff Jeff Gahler said, “I find it both personally and professionally disappointing that someone within our ranks would break (the public) trust and be accused of such heinous acts and crimes. My thoughts go out to the victims in this case.  I hope they are able to begin the long healing process now that these charges have been filed.”

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