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Child porn suspect pleads guilty

HOLLIDAYSBURG – A 70-year-old Altoona man entered guilty pleas Friday to seven counts of possession of child pornography.

Garry Lynn David of 310 Walton Ave. entered an open plea, meaning there was no agreement between Assistant District Attorney Julia Wilt and defense attorney Robert Donaldson as to the sentence, but the plea agreement as indicated on David’s guilty plea colloquy calls for a sentence no longer than four years.

David appeared before Senior Judge Hiram Carpenter.

The offenses charged to David occurred in 2010 and were discovered when David attempted to send two images of children by email. The transmission was intercepted by AOL Inc.

AOL referred the case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which sent the investigation to the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Eventually the accusation landed on the desk of Pennsylvania State Trooper Kevin Garhart in Hollidaysburg, who served a search warrant on David and examined two computer systems from his house.

He was initially charged with 31 counts of possession of child pornography and eight counts of displaying obscene materials.

Carpenter ordered a presentence investigation and a review of his case by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board under Megan’s Law to determine if he is a sexually violent predator.

Sentencing is to be scheduled in no less than 90 days, the judge’s order stated.

The case took a long time getting to the trial stage because David contended his privacy rights were violated by AOL and police.

David asked that the materials extracted by police from his computers be barred from use at trial because he had a “legitimate expectation of privacy” when it came to his computers.

Blair County Judge Timothy M. Sullivan ruled AOL did not violate David’s rights in intercepting the pictures of children, noting AOL has a duty under the law to report child pornography.

The defense also argued the search warrant served by state police was “stale” because it was many months before it was served on David.

Garhart agreed there was a delay because of his work schedule.

Sullivan concluded the information in the search warrant was not “stale” by the time the warrant was served.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.

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