Lawyer accused of having child porn wants evidence suppressed
A Lower Frederick lawyer accused of using his work computer at an Upper Gwynedd law firm to search for, view and obtain hundreds of images of child pornography wants to prevent a jury from hearing statements he gave to detectives.
George Bock Ditter, 65, of the 200 block of Hendricks Road, through his lawyer, Stephen M. Geday, filed court papers asking a judge to suppress his statements, as well as any evidence obtained with a search warrant during the investigation.
“Defendant did not possess sufficient mental faculties to understand the significance of giving such statements and therefore, they were not given knowingly, intelligently, voluntarily or with understanding,” Geday wrote in papers filed in Montgomery County Court.
Geday maintained Ditter’s statements were taken “after coercion and undue influence” was placed upon him by law enforcement officials.
During questioning by county detectives, court documents alleged, Ditter provided a statement acknowledging that he searched for pornography on his work computer, claiming that he had been doing research for a book, and saying that he didn’t believe anyone other than he had accessed his computer during the prior month.
Ditter told investigators that his image searches led him to viewing child pornography and that “this is where I would say I fell off the cliff, so to speak. I discovered an unknown interest in these images,” the arrest affidavit alleged.
Additionally, Geday argued that warrants used to search Ditter and his personal effects lacked sufficient probable cause and therefore any evidence gathered fromthe searches should be inadmissible as trial evidence.
Judge Garrett D. Page has not yet scheduled a hearing on the requests.
Ditter previously pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility in connection with alleged incidents that were uncovered in October while he worked as an independent contractor at the Upper Gwynedd law firm of Hladik, Onorato and Federman.
Ditter’s association with the law firmwas discontinued on Oct. 7. Law firm officials cooperated with the investigation.
Ditter remains free on $100,000 unsecured bail pending his next court appearance.
An investigation of Ditter began Oct. 6, when a partner in the law firm located in the 200 block of Wissahickon Avenue contacted police to report that “he believed an employee in his office was possessing and acquiring child pornography through the use of a firm computer,” according to the arrest affidavit filed by UpperGwynedd Detective Jon Kelcey and county Detective James Reape.
The lawfirm official told investigators that in midto late-September, he had walked over to the office copier machine to retrieve a fax when he discovered two printed images setting in the copier tray, one of which showed two naked males engaged in a sexual act, according to the arrest affidavit. The partner told detectives he observed Ditter retrieve the images from the copier, according to the criminal complaint.
The next day, Ditter approached the partner to explain the images, claiming that he had been doing research for a “sexually graphic novel” that he was writing, according to court documents. During the meeting, the partner advised Ditter that possession and printing of such materials was a violation of company policy.
At that time, Ditter allegedly asked the partner, “Let’s just keep this between us. Please don’t tell anyone about this,” according to the criminal complaint.
On Oct. 3, according to court documents, a computer virus was detected on the law firm’s computer server, and a tech company was brought in to identify and remove the virus. During that work, two sexually explicit images, both of lone teenaged males, were found on a shared drive, and while those files were not the cause of the virus, the tech company allegedly was able to determine that Ditter had placed them on the shared drive, according to the arrest affidavit.
Further investigation of Ditter’s work computer by the tech company allegedly uncovered numerous image searches using terms including “really young teen boys” and other much more sexually explicit search terms, according to the criminal complaint. Several images discovered on the computer’s temporary cache folder later were determined by detectives to be child pornography, court documents alleged.
Lawenforcement officials obtained and executed a search warrant for Ditter’s work computer and other electronic storage devices used by Ditter at the firm on Oct. 6, seizing 11 items and finding numerous images of child pornography on Ditter’s computer during an initial review, according to the arrest affidavit.
An Oct. 27 digital forensics report completed by county detectives indicated that 330 child pornography images were found on Ditter’s computer, along with a history of extremely explicit search terms allegedly used by Ditter on his work computer to search for child pornography involving young boys, according to the arrest affidavit.
“Defendant did not possess sufficient mental faculties to understand the significance of giving such statements and therefore, they were not given knowingly, intelligently, voluntarily orwith understanding.”
— defense lawyer Stephen Geday on behalf of George B. Ditter