North Strabane man charged with possessing, producing child porn
A North Strabane man is accused of recording secret videos of young children inside a home’s bathroom and downloading copious amounts of child pornography on his cellphone.
Tomas Eamon Dubbs, 41, was charged Wednesday with more than 100 felony counts that included child pornography, child sex abuse material, sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication facility, along with three misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.
Agents with the state Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit said they were alerted to the situation March 17 when a woman who met Dubbs through an online dating site contacted an anonymous tip line to report the child porn he allegedly had on his cellphone.
The woman said she met a man named “Tom” after they connected on the dating app, and he proceeded to show her a wide variety of child pornography on his phone, including hidden camera videos of children taken from a floor vent inside a home’s bathroom, according to court documents. The woman told investigators that Dubbs began watching some of the videos while he laid on her bed and touched himself, court documents allege.
Investigators said they asked the woman to identify Dubbs out of a photographic lineup, which she quickly did and told them he was “the guy who came to my apartment, showed me and admitted the inappropriate stuff,” according to court documents.
The day after authorities were alerted to the situation, police executed a search warrant at Dubbs’ home in North Strabane Township and seized a cellphone he was holding that had numerous child pornography images and videos hidden in secret data folders, investigators said.
Dubbs was arrested Wednesday night and arraigned by District Judge Gary Havelka, who denied bond and sent him to the Washington County jail. Dubbs is tentatively scheduled to appear for his preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. April 30.