CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography during colloquy court on Monday.
Robert Earl Davis, 49, was charged by the attorney general’s office after a search warrant was executed at his residence on March 9. Investigators found numerous examples of child pornography on his computers.
Davis pleaded guilty to 25 counts of sexual abuse of children-child pornography and one count of criminal use of communication facility.
Judge Paul E. Cherry sentenced him to 90 days to one year in jail and five years consecutive probation.
He is not permitted to have contact with anyone under the age of 18 or have any device that can access the Internet, except for employment purposes. He must also complete the Project Point of Light program.
Although he was determined not to be a sexually violent predator, Davis will have to register his address with law enforcement under Megan’s Law for 15 years.
Deputy Attorney General Jessel Costa prior to sentencing noted that Davis has been cooperative with the authorities, providing technological insight that has helped their investigations.
His attorney stated that in addition to writing letters in support of Davis, several people attended the hearing in case they were needed to speak regarding his character.
Davis himself addressed the court apologizing and saying he wishes he could go back and change things. It was also noted that he had been seeking treatment on his own.
Cherry stated these are serious charges and if Davis was not helping the Commonwealth, he would not have gone along with this plea.
He added that he hopes Davis never comes before him again and if Davis does, he will not be so easy on him.
According to court documents, investigators traced Internet activity related to child pornography to Davis’s IP address, which is connected at his Clearfield residence.
When he spoke with police, Davis would not confirm that he was using a file sharing program that had child pornography. Davis asked to speak to an attorney although he stated he had downloaded a lot of things in the past and wasn’t sure of everything he had.
Four different computer storage devices and a computer were recovered from his home and a search of his vehicle uncovered another hard drive that contained child porn.
