Horsham man sent to jail on child porn charges

NORRISTOWN — A Horsham man has been sent to jail on charges he possessed child pornography while using internet file sharing software on his home computer equipment.

Xing Jian Ge, 25, of the 400 block of Barbin Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges of possession of child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between September 2020 and January 2021.

Judge Risa Vetri Ferman also ordered Ge to complete 9 years of probation following parole, meaning Ge will be under court supervision for about 11 years.

Ge will be evaluated for sex offender supervision during the parole and probationary periods. Ge must undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with any recommendations for treatment.

Ge also faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

In September 2020, detectives were conducting an online investigation to identify individuals possessing and sharing child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing network and located a computer linked to Ge that was sharing files associated with child pornography, according to court documents.

Detectives were able to make a direct connection to the computer sharing the files and from Sept. 1 to Sept. 21, downloaded 32 image files that contained photos of children engaged in sexual acts or in sexually explicit poses, according to the criminal complaint filed by Abington Detective Rick Beaghley, who has also been sworn as a special county detective to investigate internet crimes against children.

Subscriber information for the internet address was traced to the defendant’s residence in Horsham, according to the arrest affidavit.

On Jan. 22, 2021, detectives went to Ge’s residence with a search warrant and seized numerous electronic devices, including a computer tower and hard drive that were found to contain 1,049 video files and 264 image files that depicted children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses, according to court documents.

Among the child pornography files, authorities found more than 100 videos depicting indecent contact with children, including children under the age of five being sexually assaulted, according to the criminal complaint.

When Ge was interviewed by detectives he admitted that he had installed the file sharing software on his computer and admitted to downloading child pornography from the internet, according to the arrest affidavit. Ge allegedly stated his age of interest in kids was 13 to 15, “but admitted to having younger children in his collection,” according to court papers.

Another charge of criminal use of a communication facility was dismissed against Ge.