Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio Farmer's Secret Life? Disturbing Child Porn Allegations

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Phillip VanScoy, 32, faces 11 felony charges related to child sex abuse material and tampering with evidence in Marion County, Ohio. VanScoy is a farmer and a married father of three who often quotes the Bible on social media. VanScoy has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but law enforcement is concerned he may have been trying to infiltrate youth groups to gain access to children. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Ray Grogan https://www.facebook.com/marioncountyprosecutorCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What do you think the youngest would have been? Detectives question a farmer. After receiving a tip, they say that tip included images of children being sexually abused. But is there more to this case? I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. There's an investigation underway into disturbing and disgusting images of children in Ohio. A man who works as a farmer is facing very serious criminal charges. His name is Philip Van Skoi.

On social media, Philip VanSkoy looks like a hardworking family man. He's 32 years old. VanSkoi is married. He has a wife and three children. And he's even posted Bible verses on social media. I'll get into that in just a second. But detectives and prosecutors in Ohio say that Philip VanSkoi was up to something on social media apps. One of those apps is called kick.

The investigation has been underway for many, many months now. prosecutors say the investigation started after the Marion County Sheriff's Office got a tip from the internet crimes against children task force. That's a national network of 61 task forces that investigate crimes against children. Detective said that Philip Van Squoey's online activity raised serious red flags. I've learned some of the alleged conversations included discussions about the softness of his own child's rear end. But thankfully, there is no indication that Philip Van Skoy harmed his own children. Van Skoy and his wife actually welcomed another child earlier this year. At that time, he quoted the book of Samuel writing on Facebook,

I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to this Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. Van Skoy then wrote, the Bible is called the living word for a reason, and we have prayed for this child for a long time. It was not without its struggles, and they are really only just the beginning. The Marion County prosecutor, Ray Grogan, he's going to join me here shortly to discuss this ongoing investigation and the plea he's making to the public about Philip Van Squoy. Now, this case takes us to Marion County that's north of the state's capital, Columbus.

The population of Marion County is about 65,000. Many families live there, including Philip VanSkoy and his family, but sadly, communities with families are not immune to cases involving child pornography and child sex abuse material. In March of 2026, detectives went to talk to Philip VanSkoy about images of children they say he received and downloaded. There are subtitles on these clips to help you follow the conversation. Take a look. So these get flagged not just by sent me, but downloaded. So that's why I asked for honesty. Why do you see one recently? I know also it showed.

Philip Van Skoi, as you saw and heard, said that he downloaded these images by accident, but the prosecutor and detectives say this was no accident. Here's another clip of Van Skoi with the detectives. How many other images do you think that were sent to you or vice versa of children? There were some that I thought by speculated. What do you think the youngest would have been? about 15, 16. Maybe she was maybe 13.

In April of 2026, the grand jury in Marion County indicted Philip Van Skoi on four felony counts related to child sex abuse material. And one count of tampering with evidence they believe he was trying to destroy the evidence they were seeking. But the investigation continued into Philip Van Skoi. And this month, six more felony counts were added by the grand jury. Van Skoi was summoned to court and pleaded not guilty. The case against Van Skoi is making its way through the courts right now. But the county prosecutor and sheriff's investigators say they've uncovered information that is concerning to them. They are worried that Van Skoi may have actually tried to become a part of youth groups in the area to gain access to children. Now that possibility is being investigated and investigators are looking for help and trying to figure out whether Philip Van Skoi was part of any,

youth groups as a trusted adult, someone who would have been trusted to be involved with children. So to dive into this case a little more thoroughly, I want to bring in Ray Grogan. He is the prosecutor in Marion County and his office has been investigating this crime, alleged crime, along with the sheriff's office for a little while now. Ray, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you very much for having me. Let's talk a little bit about what you all are looking for from the public because you had an indictment originally and then you went back to the grand jury and added additional charges. And you believe it's my understanding that there could be more victims out there. That's exactly right. Initially, Mr. Vanskoy was charged with five counts, four counts

relating to the images that we believe he had on his devices and one count of tampering with evidence. after the investigation had become a bit more involved, we believe there were additional images. So we went back to the grand jury, and the grand jury here in Marion County issued a supplemental indictment with additional counts for other images that we believe that he had engaged with. But you're absolutely right. We're making a plea to the public because through the investigation, we learned that there were comments made by the defense. in which he desired to join certain youth groups here in the area. So we're making this plea to the public in an effort to see if anyone has information about that.

If he did, in fact, try to infiltrate certain youth groups or become involved with youth groups or any activity really involving children to let us know that so that the investigation can be more complete. And that seems only logical because this is somebody who, it's my understanding, was potentially discussing, wanting to trade some minors, talking about on some chats and things like that, some pretty intense, inappropriate sexual stuff involving children. So how concerned are you that maybe his own children could potentially be victims here? Well, I'll be clear. There's no evidence to demonstrate that at this point. There's absolutely no evidence that he has

harmed any children physically. That being said, anytime you deal with a case in which there are images that the investigation has indicated, this person is either downloaded or transferred or shared or collected, when you, anytime that happens and you couple it with conversations surrounding particular children or children in the community, youth groups, children's activity, it becomes that much more arming and and that's why the investigation has to continue and that's why we need to know if there's other individuals out there that Mr. Vanskoy tried to reach out to and that's ultimately what we're doing he has pleaded not guilty to the charges obviously that's that's how these things work

that the fact that he you believe he was trying to infiltrate though these youth groups is very very concerning given the fact that he's on body camera talking about receiving some images that involved pre-teenagers, some teenagers, things of that nature, involved in sexual activity. So have you heard from anybody just yet? I know that there's been this plea put out for the last couple of days. Has anybody else come forward that you can share with us? Because the plea was made just yesterday, we are still waiting. to see if folks are going to call in to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

I will tell you, I am hoping against hope and praying that nobody calls in. I am hoping that this investigation is completed and that nobody has information that Mr. Vanskoy tried to, in fact, join a youth group or engage with children in any extracurricular activities. That is my sincerest hope, but we're going to have to wait and see. But at this point, I don't believe anybody has called. than just yet. Is this unusual?

I mean, this is a guy who's out there all over social media. In your experience, this is unusual because he's on social media. He's posted Bible verses, pictures with family, things of that nature. He's a farmer. I mean, he's really out there. Is this unusual for somebody like this, like a family man who's a farmer, to be on the internet looking for this material? Well, I think what it, what,

the internet and these applications that we have that are just so that people can access so quickly now really anybody who has a predilection for this type of stuff what we have seen is that there isn't a one-size-fits-all category that we can really put folks who engage in this behavior into we have folks that we have folks. who are that have been charged that are well well to do we've had folks that are that are not well to do it really runs the full spectrum of our society because I think of its accessibility and just how much of it is out there but the what is different about this particular case though is that the investigation has led us to believe as we've talked about now his his desire to get into certain youth groups. That's why we're making this plea at this time and why we're talking openly about it this time,

as opposed to potentially keeping it closer to the vest. I think we have a general responsibility to the public that if there are folks out there who have information about his attempts to infiltrate these children's organizations, we need to know about it. Ray, you've put this plea out believing that Philip Van Skoi was trying to get in into youth groups and use youth groups to possibly target young people. Are we talking church youth groups or are there other types of youth groups that you think he might have been trying to get involved with?

What we know to this point through the investigation is that the only term that was used was youth group. So we're not really sure whether it would have been church youth groups or children's athletic teams or some other type of youth groups. group, which is why we want the investigation and why the plea itself is as broad as possible. So if anybody has any information about any youth groups of any kind, we're asking them to contact the sheriff's office. What have you discovered so far?

I mean, obviously you've added additional charges. So you're leaving room open for more charges to be added, for another superseding indictment. Is that right? Potentially, it just it depends on what the investigation once it's finally completed demonstrates. And so if once the investigation is completed, should additional charges be appropriate, we will certainly bring them. What is your biggest concern here? I would assume your biggest concern is that he may have had some actual physical contact and interaction with kids. You're absolutely right. The the worst case scenario as a prosecutor is when a child gets hurt irrespective of the harm that has caused

to a child in images and videos that are distributed all around the world all around the internet aside from the harm that's already been caused to those children uh even more so than that though are when we have children in our community that have potentially been harmed and that's what we need to find out and that's why we're making this plea to the public has anybody who is associated with him or or friendly with him been cooperative with your investigation have they been able to offer any information i believe the investigators have had conversations with uh folks who know him um to to my knowledge there hasn't been anybody who has been um difficult or or not forthcoming um and so thus far everybody has been has been willing to to have those conversations

with investigators. I know Philip Van Squoy is somebody with a job. He has a family, but right now, he's facing these charges and he is free on bail. That's correct, right? That is correct. He has posted a $50,000 bond and he will absent a violation of the other terms of his bond. He will remain out on bond until his trial. There are some other bond conditions. For example, he is not allowed to be around any minor children, including his own. He's not allowed to have any internet capable device under his control or his possession. Wow. Well, those are all pretty common conditions for a case like this. I hope like you do that no children have physically been harmed by him, but it's bad enough that children involved in these images were even subjected to that in the first place.

I think sometimes when we talk about child sexual abuse material or CSAM, as we call it in the common parlance that we use as law enforcement agencies, we become almost numb to the horror that these children who are the subjects of these videos and these images have gone through. I have seen images and videos that are seared into my mind that will never leave me. And it is horrible. And as I mentioned before, the only thing as a law enforcement agency that's even comparable to that is when you have a child in your community who has been physically harmed. And we just want to make sure that there aren't any children like that with respect to this particular case, which is why we're asking the public if anybody knows of anything that Mr. Vanskoy did in an effort to join influence. trait or become involved with a youth group that they let the Marion County Sheriff's Office know as soon as possible. Yeah, no doubt. Thank you so much, Ray Grogan for joining me. I appreciate it.

I appreciate you very much. Now, just to recap, Philip Van Skoi faces 11 felony counts, including tampering with evidence and illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance. Van Skoi has pleaded not guilty to those charges. He's free on a $50,000 bond. Here's another look at the detectives talking with Philip Van Skoi in March of this year. So these are flagged not just by sin. So that's why I asked, but also it's images, or vice versa. There were some that I thought by speculated. What do you think the youngest would have been? Truthfully. 16. I think maybe she was maybe 13.

Anyone with information about Philip VanSkoy possibly trying to join youth groups can contact the Marion County Sheriff's Office in Ohio. That sheriff's office number is 740 382-8244. And we'll keep an eye on this case and let you know how it proceeds and what happens. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.