Towamencin man faces child porn charges
TOWAMENCIN >> A Towamencin Township man with a 2012 conviction for possessing child pornography faces new charges for the same crime after detectives discovered alleged child pornographic images on his cell phone.
Matthew Raymond Aubin, 42, of the 1500 block of Staley Circle, was arraigned before District Court Judge Edward Levine on multiple counts of possession of child pornography in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between December and February.
Aubin, who is represented by defense lawyer Michael Quinn, remains free on $50,000 cash bail while awaiting an April 7 preliminary hearing on the charges. Aubin posted the bail through a bonding company, according to court records.
An investigation began in January when Montgomery County detectives received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a Yahoo email account linked to 36 digital files that contained child sexual abuse images, according to a criminal complaint.
The images depicted females between the ages of 10 and 12 in various stages of undress and in sexually suggestive poses or sexual acts, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Kathleen Kelly. The investigation determined the name associated with the email account was “matt aubin,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Detectives showed up at Aubin’s residence with a search warrant on Feb. 24 and seized Aubin’s cell phone from his bedroom.
When detectives conducted a forensic analysis of the phone they uncovered 370 files containing alleged child sexual abuse images, according to the criminal complaint.
“These images were produced to produce sexual pleasure for the viewer,” Kelly alleged.
During the investigation, detectives determined Aubin had a previous conviction for possessing child pornography and was a registered sex offender with a 10-year Megan’s Law registration date beginning on Jan. 17, 2012, according to court papers.
In January 2012, Aubin, then 33, and of the 200 block of School Street in North Wales, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to one to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between March and June 2010 while he lived at an Upper Gwynedd resi
dence.
According to court records, Aubin was permitted to serve the minimum sentence over the course of 15
consecutive weekends beginning Jan. 27, 2012. The judge also sentenced Aubin to three years’ probation, to be served after he was paroled from jail.
That investigation of Aubin began in March 2010 when members of the Pennsylvania State Police Computer
Crime Unit, conducting undercover investigations into internet sharing of child pornography, linked an internet address used by Aubin to that activity, according to a criminal complaint. One of the shared files, a video, showed the genitals of a girl estimated to be about 11 years old, according to court documents.
State police at Skippack traced the internet address to a residence along Muhlenberg Road in Upper Gwynedd, according to arrest documents.
On June 2, 2010, state police, armed with a search warrant, went to the Muhlenberg Road residence and interviewed Aubin, who told authorities he was the only person at the residence who used his laptop computer. Aubin also allegedly told police that he knew it was illegal to possess child porn.
An examination of the computer revealed about 52 files that showed children under the age of 18 engaged in various sex acts or in various stages of undress, according to the criminal complaint. The computer also was equipped with file-sharing software, court documents indicated.