Man convicted of possessing child porn

NORRISTOWN » A Montgomery County judge has convicted a North Wales man of charges he possessed child pornography.

John William Coleman, 38, of the 700 block of Lower State Road in the North Wales section of Horsham Township, was convicted of multiple felony charges of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility in connection with incidents that occurred between November and December 2019.

Judge Thomas C. Branca rendered the verdict during a non-jury trial at which Coleman stipulated to evidence contained in an affidavit of probable cause and submitted at trial by prosecutors.

Branca deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Coleman, who will also undergo a psychosexual evaluation. Branca permitted Coleman to remain free on bail pending sentencing with a condition that Coleman is to have no unsupervised contact with minors.

An investigation began in November 2019 when county detectives received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding two images, uploaded to the social media networking app MeWe, that depicted females between the ages of 10 and 14 in sexual poses, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective James Reape.

During the investigation, detectives were able to link the MeWe account to a phone number assigned to Coleman, according to arrest documents.

On Dec. 6, 2019, detectives appeared at Coleman’s residence with a search warrant and seized Coleman’s cellphone.

A forensic examination of Coleman’s cellphone revealed “in excess of 10 images of children engaged in prohibited sexual acts,” Reape alleged in the arrest affidavit.