Richard Edward Gerhard, 74, of 288 Steeple Road, Northampton, is behind bars at the Northampton County Prison, Easton, awaiting proceedings to face felony counts of sexual abuse of children that were filed against him Thursday by state police at Bethlehem.

He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Robert Hawke and jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Gerhard is charged with five felony 2 counts and five felony 3 counts of sexual abuse of children/child pornography possession; two felony 2 counts of sexual abuse of children/dissemination; and two felony 1 counts of criminal use of a communication facility.

Police said the arrest is the aftermath of a search warrant that was executed on July 6 at Gerhard’s residence by the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation – Southeast Computer Crime Task Force, police from Troop M and officers from the Homeland Security Investigations.

They said the investigation was initiated after a proactive investigation into the dissemination of child pornography that was conducted on file sharing networks.