NORRISTOWN – A New Hanover man potentially faces jail time after he admitted to possessing child pornography on his home computer.
Tim Frederick, 43, of the 2100 block of Little Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of sex abuse of children and possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between July and September 2011. Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Frederick.
Frederick also must be evaluated by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator under the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions including a lifetime requirement to report their addresses to state police.
Frederick, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of seven to 14 years in prison on the charges.
As a condition of his bail, Frederick had to forfeit his computer and hard drive equipment to county detectives.
An investigation of Frederick began in July 2011 when undercover members of the Lehigh County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force located a computer, subsequently linked to Frederick’s New Hanover address, that was sharing suspected files of child pornography, according to a criminal complaint. Lehigh County authorities then forwarded the information to Montgomery County detectives, who took over the investigation.
When detectives reviewed several files downloaded from Frederick’s computer they determined the images depicted children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts, according to the arrest affidavit filed by county Detective Mary Anders.
On Sept. 15, 2011, county detectives, armed with a warrant, searched Frederick’s residence and seized computers and hard drive equipment for a forensic review. During the search, Frederick provided a statement to detectives ‘in which he admitted to downloading and trading images and videos and images of child pornography via the Internet,’ Anders alleged in the criminal complaint.
When detectives examined Frederick’s computer equipment they uncovered more than 900 videos and images of children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts or in sexually explicit poses, according to the arrest affidavit.
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