Ex-police lieutenant charged with child porn pleads guilty, authorities say - lehighvalleylive.com
Ex-police lieutenant charged with child porn pleads guilty, authorities say - lehighvalleylive.com
Ex-police lieutenant charged with child porn pleads guilty, authorities say
Updated Jun 18, 11:36 AM; Posted Jun 18, 10:25 AM
A 54-year-old man who was working as a police lieutenant in Berks County at the time of his arrest in September 2019 on child pornography charges has pleaded guilty, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reports.
Timothy Woll, who lived the 200 block of Shakespeare Drive in Sinking Spring at the time of his arrest and worked for the Cumru Township Police Department, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and could be jailed for up to 40 years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. The case was overseen by U.S. District Court Judge Edward G. Smith, who used to be a Northampton County judge, and the plea was heard remotely, records show.
Woll -- who subsequently resigned from the police department, his attorney said -- was charged with and pleaded guilty to counts of transportation of child pornography and access with intent to view child pornography, authorities said.
In January 2019, Woll uploaded images of child pornography from a computer to his Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage account, the FBI said. The OneDrive account contained nearly 200 child porn images, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“This is an appalling case,” U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain said in the news release. “The defendant was a member of a law enforcement organization charged with enforcing the law and protecting the public, but instead he chose to break the law and acquire child pornography. We stand ready with our federal and local partners to identify and prosecute all those who would prey upon minor children, no matter who they are.”
The FBI was equally appalled.
“The FBI works every day to track down those who seek out child pornography, because the demand for these depraved images leads to the continued sexual exploitation of young children,” said Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “The fact that a fellow law enforcement officer was involved with such material was extraordinarily disheartening to all of us. We and our partners will never stop working to save kids from physical and emotional harm.”
As of Thursday morning, Woll was being held in the federal prison in Philadelphia, records show. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 29 before Smith, records show.
Woll was represented by attorney Robert J. Donatoni.
“Mr. Woll pled guilty and accepted responsibility for his wrong-doing,” Donatoni said, adding the defense has a lot of work to do to prepare for sentencing.
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Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com.
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