NORRISTOWN — An Upper Salford Township man faces a lengthy period of probation and sex offender supervision on charges he possessed child pornography on his cellphone.
Lawrence Francis Cole, 34, of the 1700 block of Hendricks Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven years of probation after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred in 2021.
Judge Thomas C. Branca said Cole must comply with recommendations stemming from a sex offender risk and needs assessment conducted by probation officials. As a condition of the sentence, Cole is prohibited from having contact with minors.
Cole also faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Defense lawyer Matthew Taylor Wilkov sought a probationary sentence for Cole, arguing Cole cooperated with investigators, accepted responsibility for his conduct by pleading guilty, showed remorse, has a good employment history and is a good candidate for rehabilitation. Wilkov argued Cole’s rehabilitative goals would be better met through therapy instead of incarceration and that although it was a serious crime, a sentence of probation would not diminish the seriousness of the offense.
Cole was arrested during an investigation by members of the Pennsylvania State Police Southeast Computer Crime Task Force.
That investigation began in March 2022 after officials of the social media app Snapchat filed a report with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating they became aware that “videos depicting child pornography were being uploaded to their Snapchat server by a user,” according to the criminal complaint filed by state police Trooper Dante Poole.
The Snapchat user uploaded the files to the app on Dec. 16, 2021, police said. The user’s email and internet address eventually were traced to Cole, according to the criminal complaint.
The videos depicted female children between the ages of 6 and 12 engaged in sexual acts with adult males, according to court documents.
Armed with a search warrant, police went to Cole’s residence on Jan. 20, 2023, and Cole provided police with a statement.
“Cole admitted to viewing and saving child pornography files with his cellphone,” Poole alleged, adding Cole claimed he hadn’t viewed child pornography files since December 2022. “Cole related that he’s not proud of himself for looking at the files and not sure why he does it.”
Cole allegedly told police he would use internet search engines that took him “to a Russian site where he would view and download child pornography files.”
“Cole provided a path to find the child pornography files on his phone,” Poole alleged, adding a full forensic analysis of Cole’s cellphone was completed by state police.
Police alleged they found 16 images and one video depicting apparent child pornography on a memory card removed from Cole’s cellphone.
A charge of criminal use of a communication facility was dismissed against Cole at time of sentencing.
Assistant District Attorney Anne O’Connell prosecuted the case.
