SNOW HILL – A former childcare worker is expected to appear in court later this month following his indictment last week on more than 90 charges related to child sex abuse and child pornography.
Bruce Travers, 37, has an initial appearance in Worcester County Circuit Court set for Nov. 24. Travers was indicted by a grand jury last week on two cases and faces dozens of charges, including possessing child pornography, soliciting a subject for child pornography, filming a child in a sex act and sexually abusing a minor.
“The investigation is still ongoing at this time,” said Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser.
Travers, who has worked in various local daycares and served as a substitute teacher in county schools, was arrested in August following felony charges related to sexual abuse of a minor and child pornography. Travers had accepted full-time employment with the public school system before the charges were filed against him. He ultimately did not move forward with that employment.
Bruce Travers
Last week, Heiser said Travers had been indicted by a grand jury on two cases. The first case includes the charges originally filed by police in August while the second case was presented to the grand jury as a result of the investigation that continued following the first case, Heiser said.
The charges from the initial case include 43 counts of possessing child pornography, 37 counts of soliciting a subject for child pornography, two counts of sex abuse of a minor, two counts of sex abuse of a minor family or household member and four counts of filming a child in a sex act. The charges relate to offenses between June 1, 2018 and July 31, 2021.
The second case is regarding three charges — sex abuse of a minor, child porn promote/distribute and possessing child pornography — with an offense date of May 2021.
The charges against Travers came after the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit was contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which operates a “CyberTipline” to handle reports of child sexual exploitation. The tip included a child pornography file that was uploaded to Bing, according to charging documents.
Investigators then executed a search and seizure warrant at Travers’ residence on Brandywine Drive. During the search, police seized laptops, cell phones, thumb drives, memory cards and several pieces of children’s clothing, according to charging documents.
Travers told police three children — all elementary-school aged kids — had stayed with him in the past. In addition, he’d stayed with their family — who told police they’d met him through his employment at a local daycare — off and on between 2018 and 2021.
Forensic examinations on the electronic devices seized revealed various explicit nude photos of the children, according to charging documents. Investigators interviewed the children on Aug. 27 and Travers was charged the following day.
