The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

September 27, 2012

Man charged with kiddie porn

By Joe Pinchot Herald Staff Writer

HERMITAGE — A Hermitage man was arrested Wednesday on four charges associated with having child pornography videos on his home computer.

Kyle D. Kimmel, 26, of 809 N. Buhl Farm Drive, was charged by city police with 37 counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of dissemination of child porn and one count each of criminal use of a computer and possessing an instrument of crime – the computer.

Kimmel was arraigned by District Judge Ronald E. Antos, Farrell, and released after posting bond, with conditions. He is not allowed to live at home because his mother sometimes baby-sits children there and he can’t have contact with children, have access to the Internet or operate computer devices.

Antos set a preliminary hearing for 8:45 a.m. Oct. 4.

Hermitage police said they were notified by state police that a trooper using a file-sharing program had identified a computer using the Internet on Sept. 6 that was suspected of sharing child pornography.

The trooper obtained the computer’s Internet provider address, found it was registered to Verizon Online, and obtained a search warrant from an Indiana County judge to compel Verizon to identify the owner as Kimmel’s father and an address of 809 N. Buhl Farm, police said.

Hermitage police, who were given information by state police Sept. 17, obtained a search warrant from Antos on Monday, interviewed Kyle Kimmel, and seized his computer.

Kimmel described himself as a porn addict, acknowledged downloading pornographic videos of boys under the age of 18 and said he needs counseling, police said.

He said the downloads on his computer were made over the last two years, police said, although he is specifically charged with the time period Sept. 6 through 24.

Police said they found 37 video files on Kimmel’s computer that contain child pornography, including three that were downloaded by the state trooper.

Kimmel told police he has never done anything inappropriate with any of the children his mom baby-sits. He also said he had never tried to meet underage people.

Three of the charges are third-degree felonies punishable by up to 7 years in prison for each count, while the instruments charge is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

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