Upper Moreland man sent to jail for child porn

NORRISTOWN >> An Upper Moreland man who admitted to possessing child pornography on his electronic devices faces time behind bars and a lengthy period of probation.

Logan Menkevich, 22, of the 400 block of Silver Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail and seven years of probation after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between June and November 2021.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who imposed the sentence as part of a plea agreement, said Menkevich will be placed under sex offender supervision while serving his sentence. Menkevich must comply with all recommendations for counseling or treatment stemming from a psychosexual evaluation.

The judge said Menkevich is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children with the exception of family members.

Menkevich also faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.

Menkevich was charged after an investigation by members of the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Unit.

The investigation of Menkevich began in June 2021 when state troopers conducting undercover operations into internet sharing of child pornography located a computer that was sharing child pornography and downloaded a video file that depicted a female child engaged in prohibited sexual acts, according to court documents.

Troopers subsequently linked the internet address to Menkevich, according to the criminal complaint filed by state police Trooper Dante Poole.

Investigators obtained a warrant to search Menkevich’s residence and appeared at the Silver Avenue home on Nov. 17, 2021. At that time, Menkevich admitted that he had file sharing software installed on a desktop computer in his bedroom.

During questioning by police about suspected child pornography being shared from a computer in the home, Menkevich became nervous and “started to sweat extremely from his forehead” and related that he didn’t want to answer questions about the sharing and downloading of child pornography files, according to the arrest affidavit.

When investigators performed on-scene previews of the desktop computer belonging to Menkevich they located files depicting children under the age of 18 engaged in prohibited sexual content, detectives alleged.

Menkevich’s electronic devices, including a cellphone and a gaming computer, were seized for a full forensic analysis, court papers indicate.

While viewing extracted data from the devices investigators observed about 4,272 images and about 232 videos “all depicting apparent child pornography,” detectives wrote in the criminal complaint.

A charge of criminal use of a communication facility was dismissed against Menkevich.