A Star Wars impersonator known as ‘Fluke Skywalker’, who appeared as the character at children’s charity events, has been arrested for possessing child pornography.
John Stevens, 59, who regularly appears as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was arrested Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio, and charged with eight counts of pandering to a minor with sexual content, court records show.
Several ‘fantasy fueled’ images and videos were found on Stevens’ phone that showed pornography ‘involving adult men and very young female children’, prosecutors said.
Skywalker impersonator Mark Hamill attended local children’s charity events for years.
Prosecutors said the content found on Stevens’ phone was ‘too profane to speak out loud in front of the media’.
John Stevens, 59, was arrested and charged Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio, with eight counts of pandering to sexual content involving a minor, court records show.
Prosecutors said Stevens reportedly had three videos and five photos on his cell phone of allegedly sexually oriented material involving a minor.
Earlier this month the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from a watchdog organization alleging that explicit material was being uploaded to the cloud, Cincinnati’s WLWT reported.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force took over the case, which traced the IP address back to Stevens. He was later arrested and detained.
Stevens appeared before a judge Thursday at the Hamilton County Courthouse where Assistant Prosecuting Attorney David R. Wood requested that the court set a higher bond amount due to the nature of the charges
“Psychologists say that the fantasy fueling the behavior in this case, the defendant has pornographic images on his phone involving grown men and very young female children,” Wood told the court, reported by WKRC-TV.
The prosecutor said he was unable to go into detail about the material because of its ‘graphic and fantasy fueled’ nature which was ‘too profane to be spoken out loud in front of the media’.
He was held Thursday on $200,000 bond and will be required to wear an electronic tag and be banned from internet access if he posts the required amount.
The Fluke Skywalker website depicts Stevens as a beloved Star Wars character with multiple babies and children.
‘When you ask me to attend your child’s or adult’s birthday party, fundraiser, company party or special event, I will donate 100% of your donation to local charities that help sick children,’ says her website.
John Stevens, 59, who regularly appears as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker at local charity events, was arrested for possession of pornographic material involving a minor.
Stevens said he regularly donates to The Ronald McDonald House, a charity that provides housing for hospitalized children, as well as other local initiatives in the Cincinnati area.
The cosplayer has thousands of followers on social media where she shares pictures and footage of herself as the character.
He initially gained notoriety for attending a Comic-Con in California in 2016, where other attendees assumed he was the real Mark Hamill who had returned to the big screen as the Star Wars character just a year earlier.
At the time, fans flocked around him to snap a picture of what they thought was the real deal Skywalker.
Mark Hamill himself has interacted with the impersonator several times on Twitter.
In October last year, Mark Hamill responded to a video of Stevens, writing: ‘To a guy who looks more like me than me: I really appreciate your work for charity and being in the parade in Cincinnati for me! Wishing you continued success.
Stevens is due back in court later this month.
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