Maryland detective was recently indicted on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of sexual abuse material.
After 27 years working with the Harford County Sheriff's Office, a former Maryland detective was recently indicted on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of sexual abuse material.
50-year-old Ryan Christopher Hall was assigned to the office’s Domestic Violence Unit before his arrest in October 2024. He was charged with sexually abusing two young children. Police uncovered a camera hidden under a bathroom baseboard heater, which contained “years of child sex abuse material.”
During investigative interviews, two survivors stated that Hall began abusing them when they were about 10 years old. They told detectives Hall would “remove their clothes and inappropriately touch them,” and that he was clearly taking photos and videos of the abuse.
“One of these incidents lasted so long that [the survivor] remembers a movie starting and ending prior to him ending the abuse," detectives wrote in charging documents. Both women are now 21 years old.
According to the police report, Hall confessed to installing cameras inside a bedroom and bathroom of a home used to produce child pornography: “I did put [the cameras] there because I have a problem." Detectives identified over 1,000 photos and videos of the two abuse survivors.
The 10-count indictment alleges that Ryan Christopher Hall sexually abused these children between May 2017 and October 2024. If convicted, he would face a minimum of 15 years in federal prison.
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler spoke out about his former colleague in an official statement: “I find it both personally and professionally disappointing that someone within our ranks would break that trust and be accused of such heinous acts and crimes. My thoughts go out to the victims in this case."
Authors: Alexis Kabat and Andy Goldwasser
