MIAMI COUNTY — Court documents of a 2020 arrest in Miami County show a man used the same username on social media as the one Indiana State Police announced they were seeking information on Monday night.
On Monday, state police announced they were looking for information about the person who created the social media accounts with the username "anthony_shots" and was using pictures of someone else. The person in those pictures used by the account is not a person of interest in connection with the deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German in 2017 in Delphi, according to state police.
While formal charges have been filed in connection with the 2020 arrest, Scripps station WRTV is not naming the man because it has learned the case is unrelated to the ongoing investigation in Abby and Libby's deaths.
When asked by WRTV Investigates if the man was ever questioned by investigators in connection with the Delphi case, sources said they did not have any comment.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeremy Piers, the public information officer for the Lafayette Post, told WRTV state police were not making any additional comments at this time on the ongoing investigation.
The man, arrested in August 2020, is facing 30 charges, according to online court records. The charges include child exploitation, possession of child pornography, obstruction of justice, and synthetic identity deception.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the man was interviewed by a state police investigator and an FBI special agent after an investigation found he was using an Instagram and Snapchat account with the username "anthony_shots."
The man told investigators he was using the Instagram account to find girls to talk to and told them to talk to him on Snapchat, according to the affidavit.
Some information in the affidavit is redacted, including some of the information found on electronic devices examined by investigators. None of the unredacted information in the affidavit mentions any connection to the investigation in Delphi.
WRTV has reached out to the man’s attorney for a comment by phone and email and is awaiting a response.
The case is still pending in the Miami County Circuit Court and a pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 16, according to online court records.
Anyone who communicated, met or attempted to meet with the creator of the “Anthony_shots” profile is asked to contact investigators at 765-822-3535 or at abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com. In the press release Monday, state police said a tip should include as much information as possible, including how you communicated with the profile, what social media application you used, if the account attempted to meet you or obtain your address and any saved images or conversations with the account.
This story was originally reported by Andrew Smith and Rafael Sánchez on wrtv.com.
