Son Used Mom's Internet to Get Child Porn, Police Say

A 23-year-old Nazareth man has been charged with downloading child pornography while using his mother’s Internet connection. 

Jeffrey Drexler, who lives in an apartment at 100 N. Broad St., has never been arrested before, court records say. But he’s now facing third-degree felony charges of disseminating photos/files of child sex acts, child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. 

Drexler was arraigned Tuesday in front of District Judge John Capobianco. He is free on $50,000 unsecured bail.

According to a police criminal complaint:

The Lower Heidelberg Township (Berks County) Police Department contacted Trooper Mark Mackachinas, who works out of Bethlehem’s Troop M for the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Computer Crime Unit, in January. 

During a Dec. 8 undercover investigation on Ares, a file-sharing network, Lower Heidelberg’s Det. Sgt. Chris Stouch was able to identify an Internet Protocol (IP) address that may have downloaded 33 files of suspected child pornography.

On Jan. 2, “the Ares software program successfully completed the download of a file” the IP address was making available.

Stouch reviewed the file, which he said depicted a child under the age 18 -- about 8-9 years old -- “engaged in sexual acts and/or poses.”

The subscriber of the IP address between Sept. 22 and Oct. 5, according to Verizon Online LLC, was Whitfield Street resident Theresa Drexler. She was also identified as Theresa Weisenbach in court records. 

The woman told Mackachinas on Jan. 25 that her son, Jeffrey Drexler, would bring his desktop’s tower to her home because his apartment does not have Internet access.

Mackachinas then headed for Drexler’s apartment on N. Broad Street. Drexler told police that he used Ares to download files depicting child pornography, but deleted the files after they were viewed. 

A forensic examination of Drexler's computer found 10 image files that depicted child pornography.