CLEARFIELD – A Houtzdale man has been jailed on child pornography charges.
Abram Stewart Fry, 19, is charged by the Attorney General’s office with 50 felony counts of child pornography, as well as one felony count of criminal use of communication facility.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, between Jan. 26 and Jan. 30, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received two cyber tips from two different Electronic Service Providers—Discord and X (formerly Twitter).
On Feb. 9, both tips were subsequently assigned to the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The first cyber tip reportedly contained seven files of child pornography that were identified by Discord following their upload Jan. 26.
The second tip was received Jan. 30 from X, reporting a video containing suspected child sex abuse had been sent via the direct message feature on the app.
It was then discovered that two additional cyber tips had been linked to this case after five suspected child pornography files were uploaded to SnapChat on April 8.
Investigators obtained user and subscriber information from several ESPs, and traced the file uploads to a Houtzdale address where Fry resided.
On July 30, they executed a search of the residence, at which time Fry was locked inside his bedroom. Because he refused to exit, the door was “breached” and he was escorted outside.
In the bedroom, investigators seized two cell phones and a computer, with a preliminary examination of one phone allegedly revealing at least 26 images and 42 videos of child sexual abuse.
The other phone will undergo a laboratory examination at a later date, and numerous additional files of child pornography were discovered on the computer, according to the affidavit.
Fry waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday, sending his case to the court of common pleas. He’s being held in county jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
