Photo: Ross County Sheriff's Office
Professional bowler Brandon Novak, who was arrested midway through the 2024 U.S. Open tournament earlier this month, is facing 15 child pornography charges.
Novak, 35, was extradited from Indianapolis to Ross County, Ohio, and formally charged with five counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and 10 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, according to Ross County Jail records obtained by CNN. The Ohio native was reportedly arrested midway through his second game of the 2024 U.S. Open at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis on February 1.
Video footage from the event showed several players looking off screen at some commotion, which was suspected to take Novak during arrested.
The bowler withdrew from the U.S. Open, but still finished at No. 36 overall in the event, which rewarded $1,500 in winnings, according to tournament results. Novak had been under investigation by the Chillicothe Police Department dating back to February 2023, according to documents obtained by the Columbus Dispatch. Local police were initially notified of the bowler's alleged activity when a complaint was filed regarding his Facebook account being linked to child pornography, the Dispatch reported.
Novak told police that he purchased pornography through the Snapchat app and initially claimed he was unaware that the content contained children, but later admitted to knowing that he purchased child pornography and attempted to conceal it, according to a police report obtained by the Dispatch.