Following a hearing Wednesday morning Carbon County Judge Steven R. Serfass granted the petition of convicted former Coaldale Mayor Richard Corkery to remain free on bail pending his appeal of his conviction to the state Superior Court.

Corkery, 75, of 249 W. Earley Ave., was convicted by a county jury on June 12 of 27 counts of child pornography, all felony threes. On Sept. 16 Serfass sentenced him to serve nine to 36 months in a state correctional facility followed by three years of state probation. He was previously ordered to report to the county prison at 9 a.m. on Friday to begin serving his sentence.On Sept. 26 he filed a petition for "post-verdict bail" pursuant to state rules of criminal procedure.Wednesday Serfass conducted a hearing on the petition and granted it.At the hearing Corkery said he had been free on unsecured bail and on electronic monitoring since Oct. 6, 2011. He also testified he has not had any problems with his probation officer and has followed all conditions of his bail and all the instructions of his probation officer.Corkery also said he has limited financial resources. He said he was recently notified by the Social Security Administration that he will cease receiving Social Security benefits because of his conviction.He says his only income will be a "small" pension benefit from his former employer. He also said he has a mortgage on his home.Defense Attorney Nicholas Quinn said Corkery meets the criteria set forth in the rules of criminal procedure for a person to remain free on bail until his appeal is decided. He added that Corkery is not a flight risk, which is one of the main considerations a court must consider in determining if bail should continue while an appeal is pending.Serfass said that judges used to have the sole discretion whether to grant bail or not, but that guidelines have been established in such matters.He said Corkery satisfies those guidelines.Serfass said Corkery must continue to follow all the prior conditions of his bail and continue to wear an ankle bracelet. He must also surrender his passport.Serfass said Corkery must file his appeal no later than Oct. 16 and also by that date pay his monitoring fees to date. If no appeal is filed, then Corkery will have to begin his jail term.Nesquehoning police charged Corkery with viewing child pornography on a computer at the offices of his then employer, radio station WLSH.Corkery denied viewing the pornography, stating the images would "pop up" when he went to the website of his former high school in Philadelphia.However, during testimony presented by the commonwealth, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, John Bates, said Corkery admitted viewing the child pornography while the agent and police were at his Coaldale residence. Also, a state police computer expert, trooper Paul Iannace, testified he examined the computer in question and found "thousands" of porn sites.