CLEARFIELD – A former resident of Tomorrow’s Hope in Coalport was sentenced back to state prison on Monday for possessing child pornography.
Police say a supervisor at the facility, which is a transitional housing center for parolees, related to state parole agents that during a search of the building in September 2023, they located an “unclaimed cell phone.” Later they reportedly received information that the phone belonged to Thomas Bernard Mahaffey, 65.
After being questioned, Mahaffey admitted it belonged to him and it contained images that “would send him back to prison,” according to the affidavit of probable cause. He stated that he obtained the images from the “dark web.” In all, 61 images were found on the device.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced Mahaffey to serve six to 16 years in state prison with 12 months reentry probation for five felony counts of possession of child pornography.
Although he was not found to be a sexually-violent predator after an evaluation, he will still have to register with authorities under Megan’s Law for 15 years, according to a court employee.
Mahaffey is currently in state prison for violating his parole on a previous child pornography case from Elk County in 2015. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison, according to online court documents.