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Area man charged in child porn case

2 min read
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A Washington man was charged with more than 20 child pornography charges Tuesday following a lengthy investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

John D. Wheatley, 49, of 533 South Main St., was arraigned before District Judge Robert Redlinger on one count each of distribution of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility and 20 counts of possession of child pornography.

Wheatley was arrested Tuesday morning after admitting to agents from the attorney general’s office he was “addicted to pornography” and had “underage girls in bikinis” on his computer, court documents said.

Agents began investigating Wheatley Oct. 23 after downloading images from a file on his computer that was publicly available for download, court documents said.

Wheatley told agents Tuesday he “believed that the content on his computer was not illegal for the images that were saved and did not depict children naked or in a sexual position,” court documents said. Agents found 1,500 images of pornography, court documents said.

Wheatley told agents he wants help for his addiction, but was too embarrassed to follow through.

Wheatley was taken to Washington County jail, where he is being held on a $50,000 bond.

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