Former Daycare Worker Facing Child Pornography Charges

A months long investigation starts with a tweet and ends with an arrest. 

Stillwater police said they first got tipped off about Savannah Hawthorne in November and have been investigating her ever since. 

Police said Hawthorne is now in the Payne County Jail on felony complaints for possession & distribution of child pornography and computer crimes act. 

Police said this was a multi-agency effort that involved Enid Police and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. 

“We want to make sure that we're doing our due diligence and covering all those bases on those search warrants and making sure that we make a great case to provide to the district attorney as well as the juries that are going to see this case. The end goal is making sure the families and the children in Payne County are safe,” Lt. Terry Low said. 

Hawthorne was arrested in Enid at her home, but before she moved, she worked as a daycare worker in Stillwater. 

Court documents said, Hawthorne sent child sexual abuse material on twitter. They found "messages regarding the sale of child pornography, video of screen recordings to show the type of child sexual abuse material." 

Lieutenant Low said unfortunately child sex crimes are becoming more common. 

“We do see an increase with crimes against children recently. Like I said, these have always been an ongoing investigation with us,” Lt. Low said. 

Lieutenant Low said cases involving children always hit home for most officers and are never easy to deal with. 

“Most of us police officers we are parents as well so that does hit us hard that the children are the victims on this case and they're truly innocent they're just kids,” Lt. Low said. 

Investigators are working with the daycare she worked at to find out if any children were impacted.