Cheltenham man waives child pornography charges

CHELTENHAM » A Cheltenham man charged with the possession and distribution of child pornography waived his preliminary hearing June 13 before District Judge Elizabeth McHugh Casey.

Joseph L. Procopio, 48, of the unit block of Central Avenue, was charged May 31 with 100 felony counts each of the dissemination of and possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. All 300 charges were waived to county court, where formal arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 1.

According to the criminal complaint, Abington Detective Rick Beaghley, a member of the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was conducting an online internet search in December 2017 to identify those possessing and sharing child pornography when he was able to download three files containing 141 images of children under 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses from a computer later traced to Procopio.

The images included females as young as 8 in various stages of nudity in sexual poses.

Police executed a search warrant at Procopio’s residence March 29 and seized his custom-built computer and other electronic and computer-related devices. A forensic examination of Procopio’s computer located 308 image files depicting children under 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses.

In an interview with police, Procopio admitted installing the file sharing software on his computer and using it to download images and videos of child pornography but said he had attempted to take actions to prevent the program from sharing the files with others.

Procopio remains free on bail posted at 10 percent of $75,000. In addition, he is to have no unsupervised contact with minors, and his internet

account has been deactivated.

Joseph L. Procopio was charged May 31 with 100 felony counts each of the dissemination of and possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.

Joseph Procopio