New Hanover man facing jail for possessing child porn
NORRISTOWN » A New Hanover man is headed to jail after he admitted to possessing child pornography on his cellphone.
Stephen James Fabrizio, 42, of the 2400 block of Magnolia Drive in the Gilbertsville section of the township, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 9 to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between January and April 2021.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, ordered Fabrizio to report to the jail in Lower Providence on Aug. 1 to begin serving the sentence.
DelRicci also ordered Fabrizio to complete 3 years’ probation following parole, meaning Fabrizio will be under court supervision for about 5 years.
Fabrizio is prohibited from having contact with minors as a condition of the sentence and he will be placed under sex offender supervision during the parole and probationary periods.
Additionally, Fabrizio faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
An investigation began in March 2021 when authorities received a CyberTip report generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a Yahoo email account holder uploaded suspected child pornography on Jan. 27, 2021, according a criminal complaint filed by New Hanover Detective Michael Coyle.
The child pornography included video files of female children, some as young as 3-years-old, engaged in sexual activity.
The investigation determined the illegal activity occurred using an internet address linked to Fabrizio.
Armed with a search warrant, detectives appeared at Fabrizio’s residence on April 21, 2021, and seized his cellphone, according to court papers. During an interview by detectives, Fabrizio admitted that the yahoo email account was his personal account which he had for about 15 years.
“He further admitted to searching for child pornography on a daily basis and had been doing so for approximately one year,” Coyle alleged in the arrest affidavit.