Charges mount against accused child porn collector

A Lower Providence man accused last year of possessing more than 7,300 images of child pornography saw charges mount against him after he allegedly continued to possess such material while free on bail awaiting trial in the original case.

Edward Clyde Elvin Jr., 65, of the 100 block of Park Avenue, was arraigned before District Court Judge Michael P. Quinn on 252 counts of possessing child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility in connection with alleged incidents that occurred in March. Elvin faces a May 17 preliminary hearing on the new charges before District Court Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar.

At the time of his arrest, Elvin was free on bail while awaiting trial on charges, filed against him in January 2021, of possessing 7,366 images of child pornography. As conditions of bail, Elvin was prohibited from using the internet and he was prohibited from having contact with minors.

The latest investigation began on April 11 when county detectives received a CyberTip from the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, initiated by Apple Inc., “after the discovery of images of child pornography uploaded by a user of their platform,” county Detective James Reape alleged in the criminal complaint, adding Apple reported the incident to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The tip initiated by Apple

reported Elvin uploaded images of child pornography to its platform from March 4 to March 7.

“Apple provided a total of 8 emails that contained images of confirmed child pornography,” Reape alleged, adding the images were uploaded by Elvin through one email account and then transmitted to another of his email accounts.

The images involved females between the ages of 3 and 12, according to court papers.

Armed with a search warrant, detectives went to Elvin’s home on April 28 and seized his cellphone, court documents indicate. When detectives previewed the phone they found four video files that “clearly depicted” a child under 13 engaged in indecent contact or minors involved in lewd conduct “for the viewer’s sexual gratification,” Reape alleged.

The original investigation began in October 2020, when county detectives received a CyberTipline notification, routed through the Delaware County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, consisting of 26 reports provided by Google regarding a user account that contained more than 500 images of “child sexual

Edward Elvin Jr.