Man admits possessing child porn
NORRISTOWN » A 57-year-old Lower Providence man awaits his fate from a judge now that he has admitted to possessing child pornography, after his alleged activities were uncovered by detectives investigating Internet crimes against children.
Warren George Southard, of the 800 block of Rittenhouse Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a felony charge of sexual abuse of children, possessing child pornography, in connection with incidents that occurred between September and October 2017.
Common Pleas Court Judge William R. Carpenter deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Southard.
Southard also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions while on parole, including mandatory counseling and community notification about their living arrangements.
Southard, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 3 ½ to seven years in prison on the charge. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
An investigation of Southard began on Sept. 5, 2017, when a detective conducting undercover operations searching for those possessing or sharing child pornography via the Internet located a computer on a file sharing network that was specifically configured to anonymously share files with others, according to the criminal complaint.
The detective was able to make a direct connection to the computer allegedly sharing the files, court documents indicate. Upon making the connection, the detective was able to electronically receive 158 sexually explicit images and 14 sexually explicit video files between Sept. 5 and Sept. 27.
A forensic examination of the files determined that the files depicted children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses.
“Among the image files were numerous images of infants and toddlers being sexually assaulted by adult males,” county District Attorney Kevin R. Steele alleged at the time of Southard’s arrest.
Detectives traced the computer address to Southard’s residence. A search of Southard’s residence was conducted in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, according to the criminal complaint filed by Abington Detective Rick Beaghley, who is a specially-sworn county detective assigned to investigate Internet crimes against children.
“Southard informed me that he owned a laptop computer, which he used and was currently in the shed of the home,” Beaghley alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding authorities seized the computer from the shed.
“A forensic preview was conducted on the computer, at which time numerous images and file names of interest in child pornography investigations were located,” Beaghley alleged.
During a statement to detectives, Southard admitted to installing file sharing software on his computer and to downloading child pornography files from the Internet. Southard, who allegedly admitted to having about 100 child pornography files on his computer, stated his age of preference for his child pornography was 10 to 13 years of age and that he would masturbate to the child porn files, according to the criminal complaint.