An Old Forge man faces felony charges after authorities found child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, according to a criminal complaint.
During an interview, Sterling Barnes, 27, admitted to investigators that he had viewed the material on his phone. He said he had tried to stop, but couldn’t. He admitted he was aroused by the images and knew it was wrong, investigators said.
Google and Dropbox, Inc. made two reports of child sexual abuse material being viewed or uploaded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Cyber Tip Line, according to the criminal complaint:
Investigators identified Barnes through an email address and phone number connected with his online accounts.
On Thursday, investigators from the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s office and the Northeast Computer Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant at Barnes’ residence at 115 Oak St., Apt. 2, Old Forge.
Barnes was home and agreed to speak with investigators. He admitted to viewing and uploading child sexual abuse material from several social media platforms.
He admitted to paying for some of the images.
A search of Barnes’ cellphone yielded chats during which he sought child sexual abuse material, as well as child sexual abuse material images in his gallery and deleted photos folders.
He faces eight felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and two felony counts of criminal use of a cellphone.
Barnes remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 before District Judge Christopher Szewczyk.