CLEARFIELD – A Houtzdale man accused of possessing numerous images of child pornography on his phone and computer pleaded guilty Thursday during sentencing court.
Abram Stewart Fry, 19, was originally charged with 50 felony counts of child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of communication facility by the attorney general’s office in July of last year.
Angela Raver of the AG’s office, who is prosecuting the case, explained that Fry signed an open plea which leaves the sentence up to the judge, to half the charges. In this agreement, the Commonwealth agreed to not pursue the additional charges or to file charges on the other images found on his devices.
She noted that he has no criminal history and he took responsibility for his actions.
Raver also commented on the seriousness of the offenses, saying anyone sharing child porn online creates a market for more children to be abused.
“Every time the images are shared, the kids are victimized again.” She mentioned the images Fry had featured extremely young children including infants.
She asked Cherry to give him consecutive sentences on some of the charges.
Defense attorney Thomas Dickey, defended Fry by noting his family was in court to support him.
Fry’s mother stated that he was never in trouble before but has struggled the last few years.
“I want him to get the help he needs.”
His father said Fry is “a good person who made a mistake.
“I ask mercy for my son today.”
Dickey argued for a minimum sentence of three years as President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman gave in a similar case six months ago. He asked for the multiple counts to run concurrent with each other and a county jail sentence.
Judge Paul E. Cherry responded that this was his case and he would do what he feels is appropriate.
Cherry sentenced him to serve a total of 10 to 30 years in state prison for 20 counts of felony child pornography-sexual abuse of children. 10 of the offenses will run consecutive with the final 10 being concurrent sentences.
Although Fry was found not to be a sexual violent predator after an evaluation, he must still register with authorities under Megan’s Law. He was ordered to complete sex offender counseling and not to have any unsupervised contact with any female under the age of 18.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the investigation began in January 2024 after authorities received cyber tips from two different social media sites regarding child pornography that was traced to Pennsylvania.
Seven images/videos were identified as being related to an email address and another tip with one image was reported on Jan. 30, 2024 that was connected to a PA phone number.
Investigators sent subpoenas to various social media and internet providers to further identify the user of these accounts. Fry was determined to be the one using the email addresses and numbers connected to the images.
On July 30, agents from the attorney general’s office and a trooper from the state police executed a search warrant on the residence. Fry who was in his bedroom with the door locked, would not open it despite repeated commands. The door was eventually breached and he was taken into custody.
He reportedly admitted to using one of the email addresses and stated he was the owner of the cell phones found in his room.
One of the phones examined by forensic experts on the scene allegedly had at least 26 images and 42 videos of child sexual abuse. The other phone was taken for later examination.
A computer tower found in his room was preliminarily examined and reportedly found to contain numerous images of child sexual abuse material. Another computer in a separate room also had child sex abuse images and it was taken for further analysis.
All of the images depict children under the age of 18, with most under 13.
“There are also videos depicting the rape of children as young as three months old, as well as bestiality,” it is noted in the affidavit.
The original images that began the investigation were allegedly found on Fry’s phone.
