Horsham man sentenced for possessing child pornography

NORRISTOWN » A Horsham man faces several years of court supervision and sex offender supervision on 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 sentenced this week in Montgomery County Court to 7 years of probation on 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 ordered Coleman to continue with sex offender treatment and he is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors.

Coleman also faces a 15year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Branca convicted Coleman of the charges during a non-jury trial in April at which Coleman stipulated to evidence contained in an affidavit of probable cause and submitted at trial by prosecutors.

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.

Assistant District Attorney Emily Adams D’Aguanno prosecuted the case. Defense lawyer Marc Robert Steinberg represented Coleman.