A Belmont County man plead guilty in September to charges that he raped two young girls, and now officials say a close friend of that convicted rapist is facing twelve counts of having child pornography involving the same young victims.

William Schlag, 58, of Bridgeport tried to hide is face in court Thursday after pleading not guilty to seven counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material and five counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.

"Some of the counts deal with having naked pictures of children while other counts deal with having pictures of minors engaged in sexual acts," said Prosecutor Chris Berhalter.

Berhalter says Schlag is good friends with Jerry Wayt, who is spending the next 40 years in jail for raping a nine-year-old girl and her seven-year-old sister. Officials say Wayt took nude pictures of the two kids which somehow ended up on Schlag's computer.

"The photographs that involved minors in a state of nudity are local (children). As for the photos dealing with minors engaged with various acts, we have no knowledge those were local," said Berhalter.

Berhalter says Schlag was suspected of some sort of involvement during Wayt's investigation, but Schlag's charges are not considered as serious as his Wayt's.

"Mr. Schlag is not charged with any offense of producing these items or being involved with minors," he said.

If convicted of the pornography charges, Schlag could face more than fourteen years in prison. Right now he is out of jail on $20,000 bond.

Jill Del Greco, NEWS9