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Two Men Charged in Separate Child Porn Cases in Pennsylvania

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Two men have been charged with multiple counts of child pornography and related offenses in unrelated arrests, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer announced Thursday.

Daniel Wagaman, 36, of the 700 block of Preston Avenue in Bryn Mawr, is charged with 50 counts each of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, while Nicholas Stevenson, 43, of the 700 block of Raleigh Court in Wallingford, is charged with multiple counts of possessing and manufacturing child pornography, invasion of privacy and criminal use of a communication facility.

“Plain and simple, the possession of child pornography is a form of child abuse,” said Stollsteimer. “It is not a victimless crime – child pornography is form of child exploitation, and we must prosecute it to the full extent of the law.”

Stevenson has two criminal complaints against him. The first, filed in November 2020, indicates Google alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about suspected child pornography uploaded to its Google Drive infrastructure in October 2020, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Delaware County Detective Lisa DeMartini.

DeMartini reviewed 19 files in that case and found they each contained child pornography, including images of children as young as 4 to 6 years old performing sex acts, according to the affidavit.

Detectives with the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at Stevenson’s home in November 2020 and he provided a statement at that time, according to the affidavit.

Stevenson allegedly told investigators that he would go on the “dark web” to kill time, but did not always look at porn or “twisted s—.” He said he used search terms like “Lolita” and “pre-teen” to find child pornography, but believed most of it was fake and he did not keep anything, according to the affidavit.

“After the ‘shock and awe’ would wear off, (Stevenson said) the ‘disgust’ would come over him,” the affidavit says. “(Stevenson said) he did not get turned on by it … ”

Stevenson was charged with 19 counts each of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication device in that case. He posted $10,000 cash bail Nov. 23 and was awaiting a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Deborah Krull when additional charges were filed.

The second criminal complaint states that Google provided account information for Stevenson in December 2020 that revealed he was doing more than simply looking at images.

A forensic report prepared by County Detective Edmond Pisani found 69 unique images of child pornography associated with Stevenson’s Gmail account, according to the affidavit.

There were also another 236 images and one video of a female aged approximately 8 to 12 years old being surreptitiously photographed, the affidavit says. Some of these images were allegedly taken inside Stevenson’s home.

Some of those images were digitally manipulated to paste the victim’s head onto an image of a naked child’s body, the affidavit says. Additional images included superimposing a child’s vagina onto the crotch of the victim and superimposing breasts over the chest area of the victim, making it appear that she was topless, according to the affidavit.

A potential second victim also had their face superimposed onto a naked child’s body, according to the affidavit.

Child abuse pediatrics specialist Dr. June Elcock-Messam verified that the composite images used to create these pictures involved children under the age of 18, according to the affidavit.

Stevenson was charged with another three counts of criminal use of a communication facility and producing child pornography in that complaint, as well as four counts of invasion of privacy.

Wagaman was arrested following tips from social media platform Skout and Dropbox to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to the single criminal complaint against him, also written by DeMartini.

Skout reported in January 2020 that a user named “Sarah” allegedly sent child pornography to other users. DeMartini reviewed those communications and identified a total of 41 files containing child pornography, the affidavit says. An Internet Protocol address associated with “Sarah” was traced to the Preston Avenue address and a search warrant was executed there in May 2020, according to the affidavit.

The Dropbox tip came in December 2020 and indicated that a user had created an account Nov. 16, 2020, then uploaded suspected child pornography in two sessions on Dec. 17, 2020, the affidavit says.

DeMartini reviewed those files as well and found 16 contained child pornography, according to the affidavit. These allegedly included images of infants and toddlers, as well as children aged approximately 3 to 5 years old, and 5 to 7 years old.

A subsequent response from Dropbox in February 2021 for Wagaman’s account revealed more than 300 similar images and videos of suspected child pornography, the affidavit says.

A second search warrant was served at Wagaman’s address on the morning of March 9. Wagaman, his girlfriend and their 18-month old daughter were home at the time, according to the affidavit.

Wagaman was placed under arrest at that time and waived his rights, the affidavit says. He provided a recorded statement denying any knowledge of the Skout conversations, but did admit to accidentally downloading child pornography while browsing the dark web, according to the affidavit.

Stollsteimer commended ICAC detectives led by Task Force Commander Detective Sgt. Ken Bellis, of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division, for their work on both cases.

“We quite literally have the state’s best experts working to address the cases involving child pornography in Delaware County,” said Stollsteimer. “This is extraordinarily difficult work, and I know I speak for all county residents when I express my appreciation to the members of the Task Force, particularly Detective Sgt. Bellis.”

Stevenson was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Andrew Goldberg, who set bail at 10% of $250,000 on the newest set of charges. Stevenson had not posted that amount as of Thursday, according to online court records. His next preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 22 before Krull. Defense attorney Stephen Molineux did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Wagaman was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Robert Burke and he was also remanded to the county prison in Concord after failing to post 25% of $250,000 bail. His preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Elisa C. Lacianca, but has been continued. No defense attorney for Wagaman was listed in online court records.

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Written by G Raymond

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