The Reporter (Lansdale, PA)

Whitemarsh man sent to jail for possessing child porn

- By Carl Hessler Jr. chessler@pottsmerc.com

A Whitemarsh Township man was sent to jail after he admitted to charges that he possessed child pornograph­y, which authoritie­s alleged included sexual-related images of girls under the age of 12.

Jorvan Axel Ramos-Martinez, 24, of the 800 block of East Elm Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of possessing child pornograph­y in connection with incidents that occurred in September 2020.

Judge Henry S. Hilles III also ordered Ramos-Martinez to complete three years’ probation following parole, meaning he will be under court supervisio­n for about five years. Hilles said Ramos-Martinez will be placed under sex offender supervisio­n.

Ramos-Martinez is prohibited from having unsupervis­ed contact with minors while serving the sentence.

Ramos-Martinez also 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.

Assistant District Attorney Caroline Goldstein prosecuted the case. Defense lawyer Brendan Campbell represente­d Ramos-Martinez.

An investigat­ion began in November 2020 when county detectives received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the upload of 47 digital files containing suspected child pornograph­y to a Dropbox account linked to RamosMarti­nez’s email address on Sept. 15, according to a criminal complaint. All 47 images depicted girls, between the ages of infancy and 8, involved in sexual acts or poses, according to the arrest affidavit.

County detectives obtained subscriber informatio­n for the internet account and along with police went to RamosMarti­nez’s residence with a search warrant on Nov. 24. Ramos-Martinez was at the residence and during an interview by detectives admitted to downloadin­g child pornograph­y files to his Dropbox account, according to the arrest affidavit filed by county Detective Kathleen Kelly.

Ramos-Martinez admitted to viewing the files “on more than one occasion” and that he was the only person who had access to his Dropbox account, Kelly alleged.

When detectives reviewed the contents of the Dropbox account they found 662 digital files that depicted underage girls involved in sexual acts or poses, according to court documents.

Officials said county detectives, along with specially trained and sworn detectives from police department­s countywide, routinely work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to protect children from predators by aggressive­ly and proactivel­y investigat­ing internet crimes that exploit children.

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