HORSHAM — A Horsham Township man who has a previous conviction for possessing child pornography is facing new charges of child rape and creating and disseminating child pornography.
Brian Matthew Groo, 24, of the 200 block of Maple Avenue, was arraigned on Thursday on charges of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, photographing or filming child sex acts, criminal use of a communication facility, corruption of minors and disseminating child pornography in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between September and October 2024.
Groo, who remains in the county jail in lieu of $2,000,077 cash bail while awaiting court action, faces a Nov. 14 preliminary hearing on the charges before District Court Judge Todd Stephens.
The latest investigation began when county detectives received a so-called CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding videos of child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded and shared by an online user of the social media messaging platform Kik, according to a criminal complaint.
Detectives alleged the sexual abuse of an infant boy was depicted in one of the videos that appeared to be recently produced or homemade.
“The CyberTip indicated the possible risk to an individual in the near future and determined this investigation was time-sensitive to prevent ongoing or additional abuse of the depicted child,” county Detective Joshua Keenan alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Investigators subsequently traced the materials to online and email accounts linked to Groo and his Maple Avenue address, according to court papers.
On Oct. 30, detectives appeared at Groo’s residence with a search warrant and Groo showed detectives a cellphone that he referred to as his “secret phone” hidden under a couch, according to court documents.
Detectives determined the Kik application was installed on the phone as was an email address associated with the uploaded videos identified in the CyberTip, according to the criminal complaint.
The video involving the sexual abuse of the infant boy was determined to be of a 10-month-old baby to whom Groo had access, according to authorities. Groo admitted that he made the video “on his own accord” and that he sent the video to a female he met on a different website, according to court papers.
It’s not the first time Groo was accused of possessing child pornography.
In 2021, Groo, then 21, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6 to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility in connection with incidents that occurred between May and October 2019.
As part of a plea agreement, a judge also ordered Groo to complete five years’ probation, consecutive to his parole, essentially, seven years of court supervision.
Groo also had to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with all recommendations for treatment and he had a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police under the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act. At that time, the judge added Groo was to have no unsupervised contact with minors.
That investigation began in May 2019 when the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip reported that a customer of the file hosting service Dropbox had uploaded a video and a still photo file that depicted child pornography involving children who appeared to be about 10 or 11 years old, according to the criminal complaint.
The investigation traced a computer internet address to Groo’s residence in Horsham, where a search warrant was executed on Oct. 10, 2019. During the search, Groo’s cellphone was seized.
At the time of the search, Groo voluntarily spoke with detectives and stated that he knew the police were at his home for the child pornography files that were in his Dropbox account, according to the criminal complaint.
A forensic examination of Groo’s cellphone at that time uncovered 499 images depicting children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts or poses and which were determined to be child pornography. Additionally, a search of the Dropbox account linked to Groo uncovered 37 image files and 32 video files that also depicted child pornography, according to court papers.
Court documents indicate that Groo, at the time of his latest arrest, was still being supervised by county adult probation officials in connection with the conviction for the 2019 incidents.
