NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man admitted to possessing child pornography, a crime uncovered by Montgomery County detectives, and remains in jail while awaiting his sentencing hearing.
Anthony Joseph Carr-Pierce, 40, of the 700 block of Shawmont Avenue, pleaded guilty in county court to a felony charge of possession of child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between September and October 2024.
Carr-Pierce faces a possible maximum sentence of 3 to 6 years in prison on the charge.
Judge Todd D. Eisenberg deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Carr-Pierce, who will undergo mental health and psychosexual evaluations.
Carr-Pierce also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions while on parole or probation, including mandatory counseling and community notification about their housing arrangements.
Regardless the sentence that Carr-Pierce receives, he will have to report his address to state police for 15 years in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Carr-Pierce was remanded to the county jail without bail to await his sentencing hearing.
An investigation of Carr-Pierce began in September 2024 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received reports that a user of the online messaging platform Kik uploaded multiple digital files that contained child sexual abuse materials. The videos depicted females as young as 2 years old engaged in sexual acts or poses, according to court documents.
The information was forwarded to Montgomery County detectives and authorities traced the internet address of the user to Carr-Pierce.
During the investigation, detectives seized Carr-Pierce’s cellphone. An analysis of the phone uncovered 114 images and four videos depicting child sexual abuse material, according to the criminal complaint filed by county detectives Joshua Keenan and Michael Crescitelli.
Detectives also analyzed Carr-Pierce’s communications and uncovered a Sept. 29, 2024, conversation during which Carr-Pierce, using the Telegram messaging application, contacted another party seeking child pornography, according to the arrest affidavit.
“In this instance, your affiants believe that Anthony Carr-Pierce searched for this individual on the Telegram messaging application and initiated a conversation with them with the intent to share or swap child sexual abuse material. Anthony Carr-Pierce requested the option to swap or share (child sexual abuse material), however declines when told he will need to pay for the multimedia,” Keenan and Crescitelli alleged in the criminal complaint.