A Star Wars impersonator known as ‘Fluke Skywalker’, who appeared as the character at children’s benefits, has been arrested for possession of child pornography.
John Stevens, 59, who makes regular appearances as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was arrested Wednesday and charged in Cincinnati, Ohio, with eight counts of pimping sexually oriented material involving a minor, court records show.
Multiple “fantasy-fed” images and videos were found on Stevens’ phone that depicted pornography “involving adult males and very young girls,” prosecutors said.
The Skywalker impersonator had been attending local children’s charity events for years as the Mark Hamill character.
Prosecutors said the content found on Stevens’ phone was “too profane to say out loud in front of the media.”
John Stevens, 59, was arrested Wednesday and charged in Cincinnati, Ohio, with eight counts of pimping sexually oriented material involving a minor, court records show.
Stevens is said to have three videos and five images on his cellphone of allegedly sexually oriented material involving a minor, prosecutors said.
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 informed.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force took up the case and traced the IP address back to Stevens. He later he was arrested and detained.
Stevens appeared before a judge at the Hamilton County Courthouse on Thursday, where Assistant District Attorney David R. Wood requested that the court set bail high due to the nature of the alleged content.
“Psychologists claim that fantasy fuels behavior in this case, the defendant has pornographic images involving adult men and very young girls on his phone,” Wood told the court, as reported by WKRC-TV.
The prosecutor said he could not go into detail about the material because it was “too profane to say out loud in front of the media” due to its “graphic and fanciful” nature.
He was held Thursday on $200,000 bail and will be required to wear an electronic tag and banned from the Internet if he posts the required amount.
The Fluke Skywalker website shows Stevens with various children and babies as the beloved Star Wars character.
“When you make me attend your child’s or adult’s birthday party, fundraiser, company party, or any special event, I will donate 100% of your donation to local charities that help sick children,” their website says.
John Stevens, 59, who makes regular appearances as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker at local charity events, was arrested for possession of pornographic material involving a minor.
Stevens says he makes regular donations 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 he shares images and videos of himself 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 only a year earlier had returned to the big screen as the Star Wars character.
At that point, fans reportedly flocked around him wanting to take a photo with what they thought was the real Skywalker.
Mark Hamill himself has even interacted numerous times with the impersonator on Twitter.
In October of last year, Mark Hamill responded to a video of Stevens, writing: “To the guy who is more like me than me: I really admire your work for charity and for being in shows in Cincinnati on my behalf! Wishing you continued success.
Stevens will return to court later this month.
