Man headed to jail for distributing child porn

NORRISTOWN » A New Hanover man must report to jail after Christmas now that he’s admitted to possessing and distributing child pornography.

William Gerard Bushey Sr., 60, of the 3000 block of Green Valley Drive, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to six to 12 months in the county jail, to be followed by nine years of probation after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of sexual abuse of children distributing and possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between August 2015 and December 2016.

Judge Joseph P. Walsh ordered Bushey to report to the jail on Dec. 27 to begin serving the sentence.

The sentence means that Bushey will be under court supervision for 10 years. The judge said Bushey is eligible for the jail’s work release program after serving three months of the sentence.

The judge said Bushey is prohibited from using the Internet while on parole and Bushey is to be under sex offender supervision while serving the probationary and parole period of the sentence.

Bushey is prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with minors while serving the sentence.

Under state law, Bushey also must report his address to state police for the next 25 years.

Bushey was prosecuted by members of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s child predator section. The investigation began in August 2015 when undercover officers were probing the sharing of child pornography by individuals using file sharing networks on the Internet.

During the investigation, detectives were able to make a direct connection to computer equipment linked to Bushey and downloaded files that depicted child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.

On Dec. 16, 2016, detectives, armed with a warrant, went to Bushey’s home to conduct a search.

“Bushey quickly admitted that he had been downloading and viewing child pornography for years,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding Bushey also identified the computer he used to download the child porn. “After identifying the device he used, Bushey asked for an attorney and wished to end the interview.”

A forensic analysis of the computer uncovered 28 videos of alleged child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.

As Bushey was being taken into custody at his home he confessed to his wife that he was guilty of possessing child pornography, according to the arrest affidavit.