CLEARFIELD – Bobby Joe Bowes, 23 of Clearfield, waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Michael Rudella.
Bowes faces seven counts of sexual abuse of children, all felony counts.
The charges come from an investigation performed by the Pennsylvania State police Punxsutawney Computer Crime Unit. According to the affidavit of probable cause, on April 28, Trooper Matt Powell engaged in a proactive search for people sharing and distributing images of child pornography.
Powell downloaded a shared digital film that depicted children engaging in sexual acts, then obtained the IP address assigned to the computer where the file originated. It was discovered that the IP address and subscriber information were registered to Bowes.
A search warrant was obtained, and a number of items were seized from Bowes’ residence.
While being interviewed on June 9, Bowes noted that he was just curious, and had downloaded about 50 to 100 videos.
“There are some naked kids in the videos too,” Bowes told police. “There is one that has a boy and a girl and they are 10-years old. They are having sex with one another.”
“I knew this was wrong and i was going to actually delete the pictures today,” Bowes told police.
During Powell’s investigation of the computer’s hardrive, he discovered a total of six digital films that contained children engaged in sexual acts.
Bowes is free on $5,000 unsecured bail.