A former Tamaqua music school owner will serve up to five years in state prison for having hundreds of images of child sexual abuse on his phone and computer.

David J. Fortin, 38, has been in jail in Luzerne County since Jan. 27. He pleaded guilty on March 13 to 500 felony counts of child pornography.

Included in the deal was the withdrawal of 100 counts of disseminating photos or films of child sex acts, and criminal use of a communication facility.

He was sentenced Wednesday to 2½ to 5 years in prison by Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr.

Fortin owned the Fortin Academy of Music on Rowe Street in Tamaqua. While he admitted to having the images, he told authorities he never physically acted on his desires.

He was charged in November 2021 by Luzerne County, detective Charles J Balogh Jr.

The investigation unfolded after authorities received a tip through the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. That agency received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to charging documents, Fortin used the file sharing app Dropbox to upload 195 images of suspected child sexual abuse. Searches of his home revealed hundreds of videos and images of children engaged being sexually abused, including one of a little boy being sexual tortured.

Fortin told authorities he wanted to clear his Dropbox account to open up more storage space. He was locked out of the account after opening a link depicting child sexual abuse, according to the charging documents.

A search of his iPhone found more than 400 images of video files of child sexual abuse material.

According to the court documents, Fortin told authorities he “felt terrible” about his actions. He told them he wanted to stop looking at the videos because he knew it was illegal and that he wanted to help the children.