Bradley Rose

A Rhea County, Tenn., man already accused of producing child porn with a local victim now has been indicted on multiple counts of child rape involving two victims.

Rhea County authorities in October charged 44-year-old Bradley Rose with especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a class B felony, after a California detective found a registered sex offender there in possession of child porn that linked back to Tennessee.

Rose had been associated with a victim under 12 but now another victim has come forward, Rhea County Sheriff's Office investigator Rocky Potter said Monday.

After evidence was presented to the Rhea County grand jury last week, Rose netted an additional 12 counts of rape of a child, Potter said. Rose has remained in custody on a $100,000 bond since his Oct. 10 arrest. Rose's bond could be increased at a hearing set for Friday.

Potter said both victims were interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center in Chattanooga and "both gave excellent recollection," providing times and dates, locations and other details.

Rose gained access to the victims through friends of the family, he said.

"One of the assault victims is the one he made a video of and then another one came forward," Potter said of the most recent charges.

The case was triggered by a conversation between Dayton Police Department investigator Steve Rievley and a detective in California. Rievley and the California detective are members of a government-funded network that tracks exploited children and related cases.

Sep 18, 2013-- Rhea County Detective Rocky Potter answers questions Wednesday at the Rhea County Courthouse during a preliminary hearing in the death of 5-year-old Landon Robbins.

Rievley learned that a sex offender registered in California had violated his probation because he was found in possession of new child pornography, authorities said. Among the evidence found were phone numbers with Tennessee's 423 area code.

In October, Potter said Rievley "got with me and we started looking into the leads as far as the phone number and checking social media — Facebook, Twitter and all — to try to match up some of these references and some names."

Rhea County Director of Schools Jerry Levengood worked with investigators to narrow the victim search to a few students under the age of 12. When investigators showed a phone number to the mother of one of the possible victims, she recognized it "as belonging to Bradley Rose, who had befriended some children" in a local community, officials said in October.

Rose was arrested at a local business where he gave authorities his cellphone, remarking to officers he "knew what we needed."

Aside from the hearing Friday, Rose also faces a court dates on Dec. 22 and Jan. 5, 2018, according to jail records.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.