Pittsburgh-Area Man Accused Of Sexually Abusing Toddler

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PA — A Lower Burrell man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a toddler and posting a video of the abuse on the dark web.

According the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office, the FBI Child Exploitation Unit received reliable information regarding child sexual abuse material being posted on a dark web site. The FBI referred the material to Lower Burrell Police on Monday.

The thread was posted by a user and appeared to be filmed on a video-chatting application.

The video depicted an man sexually abusing a toddler, according to police.

Detectives observed the male depicted in the video had a distinct tattoo on his inner forearm of what appeared to be a raven skull.

Through the use of open-source image repository, detectives located similar individuals to both the man seen in the video and the small child.

The man observed in the video was identified as Richard Reed, 63, of Lower Burrell.

Lower Burrell Police executed a search warrant on Reed's Reed Street home on Monday. Detectives said Reed answered the door and had a tattoo on his forearm matching the exact one seen in the sexually explicit video.

Reed was promptly arrested. He allegedly told investigators that he was having impotent issues and claimed he used the sites to talk to people or view images of underage girls.

Reed is facing charges of child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor, rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, corruption of minors, and criminal use of a communication facility.

Reed was denied bail.