Man jailed for distributing child porn in Abington

NORRISTOWN >> A judge has sent a New Jersey man to prison for disseminating child pornography while using the Internet at his mother’s Abington home.

Eric David MacAfee, 42, of the 300 block of Webster Street, Seaside Heights, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 30-to60-months in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of sexual abuse of children, dissemination of child pornography, in connection with incidents that occurred in July 2017.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein also ordered MacAfee to complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning MacAfee will be under court supervision for about 10 years. MacAfee also faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police as a result of the conviction.

The judge said MacAfee’s Internet usage will be restricted during the period of supervision, including a prohibition of accessing social media and pornographic sites. MacAfee’s email use will be monitored by probation or parole officials to ensure he’s not attempting to send or receive any pornographic files, the judge said.

Additionally, the judge said, MacAfee is not permitted within 1,000 feet of any school or playground and no children will be permitted at his home. McAfee is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors.

Rothstein said MacAfee must attend a communitybased sex offender treatment program following his release from prison and must undergo a psychiatric evaluation and comply with all recommendations for treatment.

An investigation of MacAfee began in July 2017 when Abington Detective Rick Beaghley, who was conducting an electronic communications investigation on the Internet to identify those possessing and sharing child pornography, located a computer that was sharing files of suspected child pornography from an Abington residence.

When Beaghley connected directly to the host computer, he electronically downloaded five sexually explicit video files depicting children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts and poses, according to the criminal complaint. The investigation traced the computer to MacAfee’s mother’s home in the Huntingdon Valley section of Abington, court documents indicate.

Armed with a search warrant detectives went to the Huntingdon Pike residence and were told by MacAfee’s mother that he was no longer at the residence.

“She informed me that Eric was no longer at the residence and was in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. (She) stated that Eric possessed a laptop computer and used the Internet service while at the residence,” Beaghley wrote in the arrest affidavit.

With the assistance of prosecutors from Ocean County, N.J., authorities located MacAfee and found him possessing a laptop computer that contained child porn, according to the criminal complaint.

McAfee subsequently admitted to detectives that he used a file sharing software program on his computer and downloaded child porn while at his mother’s residence in Abington. MacAfee also admitted to knowingly sharing child pornography files while he was at the Abington residence.