SANDYCREEK TWP., Pa. (EYT) – A Franklin man is facing multiple charges after being caught searching for child pornography.
Court documents indicate the Franklin-based State Police filed criminal charges against 29-year-old Randy Lee Stone Jr..
According to a criminal complaint, on June 3, 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Cyber Tipline received a report that on May 22, 2020, an image of child pornography was uploaded via SnapChat by a known username connected to a known email address, with an IP address that indicated the user was from Franklin and the user’s internet was maintained by Spectrum/Charter Communications.
The complaint notes the NCMEC report also indicated Randy Lee Stone Jr. was a suspect based on the provided email address.
The information from the report was then forwarded to the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Computer Crime Task Force for further investigation.
On June 4, police served a subpoena on Spectrum to obtain information for the involved IP address. According to the complaint, police received a response from Spectrum on June 24 indicating the subscriber was a known man at a known address in Sandycreek Township, Franklin, Venango County.
On August 6, police received additional information including a disc containing a single image of child pornography that pictured two nude juvenile males estimated to be between 10 and 14 years of age, according to the complaint. Police then ran a query of the known address indicated by Spectrum to see if there had been previous police activity there and found a record of a previous incident where Randy Stone had called in a report of a disabled motorist.
Stone was then interviewed on September 8. According to the complaint, Stone initially denied ever looking at child pornography or seeing the image that police had received from the investigation. He indicated the only people who could have viewed the image were him and his ex-fiance and told police it must have been his ex, who he hadn’t been with since June after finding out his ex was a Megan’s Law offender.
Stone also told police his SnapChat account was now locked. The complaint notes that Stone consented to a search of his cell phone, an iPhone 10, when asked, and the phone was logged into evidence to be sent to the Northwest PA Computer Crime Unit, the complaint states.
Police received the phone back from the unit on January 6, 2021, along with a disc of the forensic download from the phone. According to the complaint, the disc showed multiple internet searches utilizing terms seeking young boys engaging in sex acts.
Stone was then interviewed again on January 10.
The complaint notes that during his first interview, Stone had stated he would be willing to participate in a polygraph, but when it was mentioned again during the second interview, he did not respond.
According to the complaint, Stone again told police that the only pornography he viewed was adult porn using the website “Pornhub.” When asked about whether other people used his phone, he stated they would “on occasion,” and when asked to clarify, said that probably occurred about once a week. He also told police people would have to ask his permission because he had a passcode on the phone.
Police then began going over the search history from the phone, with the dates and contents of the searches with Stone. The complaint states partway through the list of searches, Stone ended the interview and left the state police barracks.
The complaint also notes that there were several pornographic websites other than Pornhub found on Stone’s phone.
Stone was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew T. Kirtland at 8:53 a.m. on January 22, on the following charges:
– Child Pornography, Felony 3 (59 counts)
He is currently free on $25,000.00 unsecured bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on February 17, in Venango County Central Court with Judge Kirtland presiding.
