Former Upper Perk school janitor facing child porn charges

PENNSBURG — A former janitor at Upper Perkiomen High School has been charged with having thousands of child porn images on his phone.

John E. Soffa Jr., 64 of Pennsburg, was charged with two third-degree felonies, possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, according to court records.

Unsecured bail was set Nov. 5 at $50,000, and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post it. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 17.

The case began in December of 2024 when state police were called after Soffa was allegedly seen taking photographs during a girls’ wrestling tournament at the high school.

When state police from the Skippack barracks arrived, they allegedly found more than 2,000 sexually explicit photos of children on his phone, between 3 and 16 years old, authorities said.

There were also a wide variety of non-sexual photos of young girls, including high school students, on his phone, police said.

According to 6ABC News, Soffa allegedly admitted to collecting images of children in swimsuits for more than a year.

NBC10 reported “state police completed a download of Soffa’s phone and reported finding 2,097 images categorized as Child Exploitative Material. According to the affidavit, the images included toddlers between the ages of 3 and 16 in various stages of undress. It also states that many of the images were deleted by the user in December.”

The school district placed Soffa on leave after the incident, and he has not been allowed back on school grounds over the past year. School board minutes show that Soffa was terminated in late September of this year, NBC10 reported.

The school district released the following statement to the media: “We were made aware of criminal charges brought against an individual who was previously employed by the district as a school custodian. The district is aware of an incident involving this individual that occurred in December 2024 during a community organization’s wrestling tournament held at the school. Pennsylvania State Police responded to the scene, and the employee was immediately removed from the premises. The individual was placed on leave when the incident occurred and did not return to work. Their employment with the district was subsequently terminated. At this time, we are unaware of any connection between the charges the former employee is facing and district students. The safety and security of every child remain our highest priority.”