Hearing pushed back in child porn ring case
The preliminary hearing for three people accused in a suspected child pornography ring has been pushed back until July.
Angela Meadows, 35, and Joshua Dickson, 31, both of Altoona, were arrested by Altoona police on June 13, and each face 63 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Amy Brosch, 35, was taken into custody the following day, June 14, on charges that include criminal conspiracy, child pornography and sexual exploitation of children.
All three were to have a preliminary hearing on Wednesday at Central Court, but their court date has been rescheduled for July 11.
Meadows and Brosch live in separate apartments at the Logan Hills apartment complex and are tied
to 30-year-old Stephen Apostolu, a man both women allege was seeking underage girls to make child pornography with and also work as prostitutes.
Apostolu was arrested June 4 on an unrelated robbery case and has not been charged in the child
pornography investigation.
On Wednesday, Apostolu appeared at Central Court along with his alleged accomplice in the robbery, 26-year-old Gino Saullo Jr., but the hearing on that case was canceled and rescheduled for Wednesday because of an attorney conflict.
The investigation into the suspected ring began when the victim in the robbery, a roommate of Apostolu, told police that he had tried to access his Facebook page and was informed by the social media company that his account had been frozen because suspected child pornography had been associated with it and six other devices, according to a search warrant filed by Altoona police.
The victim’s phone, which he used to access Facebook, was allegedly taken by Apostolu and Saullo.
When questioned on
June 4, Apostolu first told police that Saullo was into child pornography, but after speaking more with Altoona police Detective Cpl. Terry Merritts, Apostolu said he was the one who is addicted to child pornography.
When police spoke to Apostolu’s girlfriend, she also told Merritts that Apostolu “was an avid child pornographer,” according to the search warrant for Apostolu’s electronic media, computers and phones. The girlfriend also pointed police to Meadows and the Logan Hills apartment complex when she said Apostolu had offered a woman at Logan Hills money to allow him to take naked photographs of her two daughters, ages 9 and 13.
Police recovered multiple flash drives, media cards and other data storage devices in the June 5 search of Apostolu’s Third Avenue home.
Altoona police indicated last week thatthe state Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit had been asked to come in to help sort through the evidence in the case and said the investigation remains open and ongoing.
COMMENTS