An Old Forge man accused of possessing child sexual abuse material now faces more than 400 counts of the crime.
Sterling Albert Barnes, 27, had faced eight counts of possession of child sexual abuse material. Investigators initially charged the Oak Street resident Nov. 20.
The Lackawanna County district attorney’s office withdrew the charges Thursday and filed a second complaint reflecting 450 felony counts of possessing material including still photographs and videos.
The district attorney’s office and the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the case.
According to a criminal complaint:
Google alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to images uploaded depicting children in sexual acts. Later, Dropbox submitted a similar alert and both reports were forwarded to the district attorney’s office. Detectives determined the accounts belonged to Barnes.
On Nov. 20, investigators searched Barnes’ residence and arrested him.
Barnes admitted to viewing, uploading and sometimes paying for child sexual abuse material. He told investigators he tried to stop, but couldn’t.
A search of Barnes’ cellphone yielded chats in which he sought child sexual abuse material, as well as images of child sexual abuse in his gallery and deleted photos. A forensic analysis later yielded hundreds of files depicting minors involved in sexual activity. Examples include a video depicting a minor female in the bathroom and another video involving a minor and a dog, according to the complaint.
Barnes remains at the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 18 before District Judge Christopher J. Szewczyk.