OSCEOLA MILLS – An Osceola Mills man was charged Thursday for allegedly possessing numerous images of child pornography.
Joshua M. Ochenduszko, 40, was charged by the Office of Attorney General with 20 felony counts of child pornography, plus one felony count of criminal use of communication facility.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the OAG Child Predator Section opened its investigation July 28 upon receipt of a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tip originated from a social media platform, Discord Inc., on April 30 after a user—later identified as Ochenduszko—uploaded one suspected child pornography image.
The OAG received seven additional cyber tips from the center, which originated from a web platform, Reddit, March 29. These also appeared to contain child pornography, with two images being duplicates.
The tips included the user’s Yahoo e-mail address, screen name and Internet Protocol (IP) address, which matched the information contained within the original cyber tip from Discord.
Upon further investigation, it was determined that the e-mail address was registered to “Josh Ochenduszko” and the provided IP address was associated with Comcast.
The same IP address was also used to log into the Yahoo e-mail account, as well as to upload images of child sexual abuse to Reddit, investigators noted in their report.
Subscriber information provided by Comcast traced the IP address to Ochenduszko’s Osceola Mills residence, which was confirmed by CLEAR and PennDOT records checks.
On Oct. 17, Ochenduszko was located at the residence when OAG agents arrived to execute a search warrant, and he allegedly admitted to having used both Discord and Reddit at one time.
He said he viewed child pornography within the past year but was “ashamed” of his behavior so he stopped some time ago. He said he possibly posted some pornographic images on Reddit but also thought those children were older.
Ochenduszko said he obtained the images from a popular messaging platform that agents indicated is commonly used for the digital trade of child pornography.
He provided investigators with the pass code for his phone before being taken into custody by state police on an outstanding bench warrant issued by the Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas.
During a “preview” examination of Ochenduszko’s phone, agents allegedly identified at least 25 images of children under age 18 depicted in sexual acts or poses. Three were the same images reported by Discord and Reddit.
Ochenduszko is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Nov. 1 during centralized court.
