Could Jeffery Hunt Walk on Charges of Florence Child Porn?

Part II

By June 2019, Jeffery Dale Hunt was 50 years old and living on Mt. Hester Road in Cherokee. The change of address was an expected outcome of the fallout from Hunt's arrest. Wilson Avenue residents were openly hostile when confronted with the allegations that neighborhood children had been recruited for Hunt's pornographic enterprise. 

Sgt. Greg Cobb of the Florence police told the press that the number of Hunt's reported victims was in the double digits and all had been identified as local tots. Lauderdale County and the Shoals had never before seen a case of this magnitude or with so many young victims.

Hunt had also moved on in his career. He was now working for a Huntsville real estate developer. In all likelihood, the home improvement center where Hunt had worked had immediately terminated him upon the discovery that their employee had maintained at least part of his mammoth collection on its premises. Hunt's decision to keep all or part of his sordid portfolio at his workplace may be his salvation.

Hunt's trial had been set for jury selection when his attorneys filed a surprise motion. They argued that a search warrant issued in Lauderdale County was not valid in Colbert where investigators found most, if not all, of Hunt's prodigious output of kiddie porn. The Lauderdale County District Attorney's office countered that this was normal procedure and that its chief investigator was a member of an anti-pornography squad that had statewide jurisdiction.

In the end, Judge Gil Self agreed with defense attorneys and threw out all evidence the FPD had collected in Colbert County. The Lauderdale district attorney is appealing Self's ruling, but after six months, there has still been no word from the appeals court.

Unlike Matthew and Patricia Ayers of Lauderdale County, Hunt faces no federal charges for his crimes. The Lauderdale County case is currently the whole ballgame and it may never see a courtroom. In the interim, Jeffery Dale Hunt walks among us with a seemingly new and improved life.

Let's hope the Alabama appeals court makes the right decision.

Will Accused Pornographer Jeffery Dale Hunt Get Away with Abusing at Least 10 Lauderdale Children?

The Alleged Crime: In December 2016, Jeffery Dale Hunt was living in a relatively upscale ranch house on Wilson Avenue in North Florence. He worked for a home improvement center in Muscle Shoals and often "babysat" neighborhood children. Some have reported to us that two of his charges were grandchildren, but we have not verified this.

Then the Florence police received a tip that Hunt was taking photographs of these children in sexual situations. After an investigation of three months, the FPD arrested the 48 year old Hunt in March 2017 and charged him with possession of almost 2,300 sexually titillating images of children. 

Hunt's bail was set at $400,000.00. The accused pornographer was soon released on the condition that he wear an ankle monitor at all times. Now. the detectives in charge of Hunt's case began to solidify the evidence against him. A final count of sexual photos on Hunt's electronic devices turned up over 4,500 more images; in May 2018, a new indictment was handed down and Hunt was returned to jail. His bail was set at ten million dollars, reportedly the largest bond in Lauderdale County history.

Hunt's attorneys argued that the bond amount was excessive, and Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Gil Self agreed. He allowed the accused child pornographer to again go free on his original bond.

Tomorrow: Legal Wranglings