CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man was sentenced to state prison on Tuesday by the Honorable Judge Paul E. Cherry.
Bobby Joe Bowes pleaded guilty to dissemination photo or film of child sex acts. He was sentenced to one-to-five years in a state correctional institution. He was ordered to complete the Project Point of Light Program upon his release, is to refrain from the use or possession of alcohol and must submit to DNA testing at a cost of $250. He is also prohibited from possessing or accessing any device that could give him Internet access.
Bowes also pleaded guilty to six counts of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to three years of probation to run concurrent to each other, but consecutive to the above sentence.
Bowes also must register as a Megan’s Law offender.
“Mr. Bowes, you need a lot of help,” said Cherry.
Accordint to court recoreds, an investigation was performed by the Pennsylvania State police Punxsutawney Computer Crime Unit. 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.