Hatfield Man Sentenced For Child Porn After Second Arrest

A Hatfield who had been charged with possessing child pornography for the second time in nine months has been sentenced to prison.

Joseph Sowers, Hatfield, who previously lived in Apollo in Armstrong County, had originally been arrested on January 29, 2015 in Montgomery County, the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section said in November.

Sowers will spend the next nine to 23 months in prison, court documents show.

This time, Sowers was apprehended after an undercover online investigation led to an IP address associated with Sowers’ smart phone.

In November, agents with the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section and the Kiskiminetas Township Police Department executed a traffic stop on Sowers’ vehicle.

During the traffic stop, investigators seized multiple electronic devices and reported finding Sowers in possession of a smart phone that contained child pornography. The devices will be further analyzed by the Office of Attorney General’s Computer Forensics Unit as part of an ongoing investigation.

In the Montgomery County case, agents reported that a computer in Sowers’ possession was found to contain child pornography. The conditions of his bail stated that he was prohibited from accessing the Internet and viewing such images.

Sowers’ recent arrest resulted in the following charges: three counts of distribution of child pornography, 24 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.

Sowers had previously pleaded guilty to charges that stemmed from his first arrest and is awaiting sentencing in that case.