A TikTok-famous former Kansas police chief has been outed and arrested as a pedophile who’s evidently also into incest porn.
The authorities first became aware of former Burns Police Department chief Joel Womochil’s bad behavior after they received a tip in August from the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children (NCMEC), as reported by The Daily Beast.
The tip was filed after the NCMEC received a CyberTipline report from Synchronoss Technologies, a cloud storage service for Verizon Wireless users, claiming that one customer had “hardcore [sexual] child abuse” content among his files.
That customer was Womochil, who can be seen below in one of his viral TikTok videos:
@depjustice Just a friendly PSA. #copsoftiktok #police #lawenforcement #thinblueline #chiefofpolice #policechief #deputy #deputysheriff #kansas #kansastiktok #calmdown #friendlyreminder #justapsa #viral #fypシ゚viral #fypシ #fyp #bekind ♬ original sound – Erin Monroe
“NCMEC officials notified law enforcement, and agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were assigned to the case,” The Daily Beast notes.
“They used ‘databases available to law enforcement’ to trace the account to a phone belonging to Womochil. … An analysis of the files turned up an array of abuse material, with a pair of particularly sadistic videos involving young children.”
Note that this happened around a week after Womochil suddenly resigned from his post as police chief, saying inexplicably that it was in the “best interest of me and this department,” after which he “continued working part-time as a detention deputy in neighboring Butler County,” according to The Daily Beast.
Now fast-forward to Aug. 15th, when HSI agents spoke with Womochil at his new job and seized his phone. The phone reportedly contained the offending content, in addition to something else.
“During the examination of Womochil’s cellular telephone, investigators located a Twitter (now referred to as X) account… utilizing the username ‘@ictbaddad,’” a complaint reviewed by The Daily Beast reads.
And on the account, they found the unthinkable, including a profile picture of “Pedobear,” a banner reading “Hello kids :),” and a disturbing biography in which he expressed his interest in little girls.
“38 w male looking 4 that special girl that was raised right and wants 2 continue the tradition. If u luv the little things In life message on Wire same name,” the biography reportedly read.
The authorities also found pictures of Womochil’s genitalia on the account.
Equipped with this, they filed for a warrant and received it several days later, after which they were able to view the account’s direct messages as well as its tweets.
In the DMs, they located a Feb. 14th, 2023 conversation in which Womochil had asked another X user about the subscription rate for their “premium incest” content.
Meanwhile, a separate group of HSI agents questioned Womochil’s fiancée, who proceeded to direct them to his office, where the agents promptly seized his laptop, hard drive, and “other electronics.”
On the laptop they found “numerous images of child exploitation,” according to the complaint.
Womochil was subsequently arrested on 24 state-level counts of sexual exploitation of a child and 10 counts of aggravated internet trading of child pornography, according to Wichita station KAKE.
The Daily Beast further notes that, as of Friday, he was also “facing two federal counts of receipt and possession of child pornography, with penalties that could put the disgraced lawman behind bars for decades.”
@depjustice #stitch with @therollercoasterchannel #stitch #pov #police #thinblueline #copsoftiktok #tiktokcops #deputy #kansastiktok #kansas #nightshift #countrylife #todayilearned #learnsomethingnew #askontiktok #letsgo #whatatimetobealive #dayinmylife ♬ original sound – Joel Justice
Prior to being outed, Womochil used to garner up to 600,000+ views a pop on his TikTok account, which has since been flooded with comments from people disparaging him as a “pedophile.”
In an interview last year with the Marion County Record, he claimed he’d pursued a career in law enforcement as per what the paper described as a “a deep-seated desire to help people who needed it.”
“As I got older, I thought more of myself as a protector. I protected those who were bullied or could not protect themselves. I didn’t have a group during my high school years. I floated among all the groups, but when I stood up for someone, I was respected,” he said in his own words.
The Daily Beast notes that, prior to becoming a police officer, the since-outed pedophile was “a U.S. Army combat medic, an armed security guard, a property manager, a correctional officer, and a convenience store manager.”
Some local residents no longer trust the Burns Police Department because of Womochil’s behavior.
“I have absolutely no faith in the Burns Police Department whatsoever. So, I pretty much, I don’t even call them. If I think someone is messing around my place, I am out there looking for them with a gun and a flashlight,” local resident Wesley Castleberry told KAKE.
“That city council hired this guy supposedly to keep the city of Burns safe. And yet what he’s done? He’s completely just stomped all over everyone’s trust that he was hired to, you know, look over,” he added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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