[Warning: Below contains graphic details of sexual exploitation and indecent liberties taken with a minor.]
WILMINGTON — A grand jury indicted a 21-year-old Wilmington man on more charges after he was arrested earlier in the fall for sex crimes with a child.
READ MORE: Babysitter, who worked for YMCA at area school, arrested for child sex offenses
According to court documents, Elijah Jacob Donato faces a dozen or so charges, including five counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of indecent liberties with a child. The grand jury brought forth the indictment of more charges Dec. 4, after Donato was arrested in September on two counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of indecent liberties with a minor.
A former junior at UNCW and YMCA site coordinator for the after-school care program at Wrightsville Beach Elementary School, Donato also babysat locally. He was arrested after a Nest camera in a Carolina Beach home caught images and audio of him engaging inappropriately with two children he was looking after in September 2023.
The parents filed charges and turned over explicit footage to Carolina Beach Police Department Det. C.A. Morton. Donato was arrested Sept. 28 and police confiscated his phone and laptop to help with the investigation.
The parents said the children were coerced by Donato. According to the search warrant application, filled out by Det. Morton, the children told their parents Donato posted “sus” images to Snapchat, prompting a check-in of the home footage captured by their Nest camera. It showed Donato “engaged in inappropriate physical activity with both children but predominantly the oldest son.”
The recording also captured audio, to which Donato can be heard saying: “take the most ‘sus’ picture that [name redacted] can think of.” The search warrant application also indicated Det. Morton knew “sus” was short for “suspect” — “commonly used by younger individuals to describe things that are suspicious, sexual and on occasion homosexual in nature.”
Within moments of Donato’s instruction, a child pulled away the waistband of his pants to snap a photo of his genitals with Donato’s cellphone camera, the report noted. The Nest camera showed that Donato appeared on a different occasion coming up from behind the child and looking over his body, as the child snapped another photo with Donato’s cellphone before Donato “playfully” took back the phone.
The police report indicated footage also showed Donato and the boys, ages 4 and 7, in a bedroom laying together on the bottom of a bunk bed, with Donato teaching them how to “manipulate the camera to utilize the save feature on Snapchat.” Snapchat photos disappear after being posted.
Morton wrote in the notes that a child lowered his pants to lay adjacent to Donato who was explaining how to use the phone. Donato exited the room wherein the child took a nude picture with the left-behind cellphone. Upon returning, Donato, who was giggling, asked why the child’s pants were down and instructed him to pull them up.
Later in the evening, as one child was sleeping on the bottom bunk, the report said the other on the top bunk was asking about pictures of his sibling and whether the photographs were still saved. Donato answered “no” according to the search warrant application. But then asked if the child wanted to also take a photo of his genitals, almost “daring and teasing him in a coercive way.”
it stated Donato said: “You won’t do it.”
He gave the child his cellphone and left the room before the child also captured a photo of his genitals. Donato returned to retrieve the phone.
The parents’ statement noted Donato’s behavior was a bit off when they arrived home. He was viewing family photos on a digital picture frame while seated at the kitchen table. The report explained Donato seemed “short in their interaction” before fervently leaving the home.
Det. Morton didn’t watch the full Nest footage but had enough evidence from what he did view for assistant district attorney Lance Oehrlein to advise bringing forth charges and making an arrest.
Donato is being held at New Hanover County Detention Center on a $450,000 bond. According to the North Carolina Judicial Branch, Donato’s next court date is listed as Jan. 8.
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