Registered Sex Offender Charged With Child Porn Possession In Warminster

WARMINSTER, PA — A 42-year-old township man who is registered as a sex offender has been charged with possessing and sharing child pornography, authorities said.

Edward Joseph Hockenbury, 42, was charged with felony counts of sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography, dissemination of explicit sexual material to a minor, unlawful contact with a minor, and criminal use of a communication facility, authorities said.

He was arraigned Saturday by Magisterial District Judge Mark D. Douple and remanded to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $ $500,000 bail with 10 percent, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Authorities said that Hockenbury is a registered sex offender from Warminster Township.

The investigation began on April 6 after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children flagged a CyberTip. The report indicated that on Feb. 10, a user on a social media platform shared a digital image depicting the sexual exploitation of a prepubescent child.

Law enforcement traced the IP address used in the upload to a residence in Warminster.

Authorities identified Hockenbury, a Tier-3 Sexually Violent Predator previously convicted in 2012 of unlawful contact with a minor and possession of obscene materials.

Last Thursday, detectives executed a search warrant at Hockenbury's residence. A forensic examination of Hockenbury’s smartphone uncovered CSAM files and screen recordings of the defendant using the chat platform mentioned in the CyberTip and recordings of the defendant engaging in sexual acts on a platform where some connected parties were identified as minors.

Additionally, a review of the defendant’s search history led to the discovery of predatory terms targeting children as young as 10 years old, authorities said.

“When a registered sex offender uses digital platforms to exploit the most vulnerable members of our community, we will use every resource at our disposal to ensure they are held accountable," Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said.