Nesquehoning man charged with 25 counts of child pornography
The state Office of Attorney General along with state and local police took a Nesquehoning man into custody Wednesday on more than 25 counts of child pornography.
A search warrant was executed at the East Center Street home of Kyle Lichtenwalner, 34, just after 6 a.m. following an investigation into the dissemination of child pornography.
Lichtenwalner was arraigned on two counts of dissemination of child pornography, 25 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.
District Judge Beth Dodson set bail at $250,000 and Lichtenwalner was committed to the Carbon County Correctional Facility in Nesquehoning.
The investigation began in December when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report from Snapchat, an instant messaging app used for photos and messages.
Snapchat reported an apparent image of child pornography that was saved, shared or uploaded on its platform using the user name klichtenwalner4, court papers said. The image depicted a nude toddler on the lap of a nude adult man, according to court papers.
Investigators traced the IP address to AT&T, and subpoenaed subscriber information from AT&T regarding that IP address, which came back to Lichtenwalner.
They also subpoenaed information from Snapchat and Google, regarding his user name and email address.
Investigators found that it appeared Lichtenwalner’s email address was used to upload 45 videos/images of child pornography to a Dropbox account. The email is the same as the one for the Snapchat account.
Once in custody, Lichtenwalner gave investigators his phone number and date of birth, which were the same as those used for the email and Snapchat account containing the child pornography.
Lichtenwalner admitted to his Snapchat account being shut down for sending child pornography to another user, and to searching and viewing child pornography through different web browsers, court papers said.
Lichtenwalner also said his Dropbox account was shut down, and he views and shares child pornography on an application called, “AnonChat,” and paid for child pornography on “Use Net,” court papers said.
He told investigators that he transferred child pornography to a thumb drive to save space on his cellphone, and viewed child pornography as recently as Tuesday, court paper said.
A preliminary forensics analysis of Lichtenwalner’s phone found images of child pornography he shared with two other users on AnonChat, and a video web history with a thumbnail image of a child engaged in indecent contact with an adult male, court papers said.
Investigators found 15 videos or images of prepubescent children engaged in prohibited sexual acts, and 10 images or videos depicting children engaged in prohibited sexual acts on Lichtenwalner’s phone, court papers said.
Seized from the residence were a Samsung cellphone, a Hewlett Packard laptop with 32 GB micro SD card, and a USB thumbdrive.