Muriel Schwenck
Beloved Curmudgeon
10 Sep 2019
LINK
Sentencing scheduled for January 9 2020
LINK
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Matthew Benjamin Laver, 38, of the 200 block of East Summit Street, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Monday to multiple counts of distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred in 2018.
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Laver faces a possible maximum sentence of 80 years in prison on the charges.
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With the charges, authorities alleged Laver trafficked in child pornography that depicted children as young as infants being sexually assaulted and raped, and that he did so during the time he was employed as a county deputy sheriff.
The investigation, according to prosecutors, surrounded Laver’s collection of nearly 4,000 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children and his distribution of images to other users over the Internet for about 10 years.
Laver previously was employed as a deputy sheriff about 10 years ago but was no longer employed by the office at the time of his arrest by county authorities last November.
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The initial investigation of Laver began in September 2018 when Bucks County authorities shared information with Montgomery County detectives about child pornography allegedly being downloaded from a computer at Laver’s home.
On July 30 into July 31, investigators using a file-sharing program connected to Laver’s computer and downloaded nine files containing child pornography, Beaghley alleged in the original criminal complaint. All of the files contained videos or images depicting children under 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses, according to the arrest affidavit.
Detectives obtained a warrant to search Laver’s home on Oct. 25, court papers indicate. Numerous electronics devices were seized during the search.
Laver was at home when detectives showed up and he subsequently agreed to speak with investigators.
During the interview, Laver allegedly admitted to installing filing sharing software on his laptop computer and to downloading child pornography from the Internet, according to the arrest affidavit. Laver estimated he had more than 100 child pornography files on a computer and an external hard drive attached to the computer, detectives alleged.
“Laver admitted that he had masturbated to the child pornography files,” Beaghley alleged in the arrest affidavit.
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Sentencing scheduled for January 9 2020
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