Suspects charged in child porn probe

Apostolu arraigned; Tornatore taken into custody in Florida

The man at the center of an investigation into child pornography and child prostitution now faces charges, along with his 28-year-old girlfriend.

Stephen Apostolu, 30, appeared Thursday in orange prison clothes for his arraignment on 40 felony charges that include trafficking in minors, criminal conspiracy to filming a child sex act, possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of children, along with other sex crimes, in connection with photos and a video of a 16-year-old girl taken in April.

In the video and about 15 pictures found by police on a flash drive, Apostolu's girlfriend, Kara S. Tornatore, 28, is shown naked, kissing the girl and fondling her breasts, according to charges filed by Altoona police De­tective Cpl. Terry Merritts and state police investigator Trooper Kathryn Kaminsky.

Tornatore was taken into custody just after midnight Tues­day by Pasco County, Fla., sheriff deputies, where she had gone to stay with family after Apostolu's arrest June 4 on a robbery case.

That arrest ultimately led to the investigation into the couple's alleged child pornography activities.

Tornatore remains in custody in Flori­da pending extradition to Penn­sylvania while Apostolu, who is being held in a jail outside Blair County, was brought to Altoona on Thursday for arraignment.

Apostolu spoke briefly with Public Defender Russ Montgom­ery on Thursday before the arraignment and then only spoke to answer questions asked by Magis­terial District Judge Ben Jones in order to set his bail.

"I can't make bail anyway, sir," Apostolu said as Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith told the court how Apostolu has only lived in Blair County for eight months, has no ties to the community, is facing the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence and already has an extensive criminal history in Florida.

"With the nature of the charges and the fact Mr. Apostolu has only been in the community a few months, I'm setting bail at $500,000 straight cash," Jones said.

Later on Thursday, Smith said the girl has been identified, and after an interview at the Blair County Chil­dren Advocacy Center, investigators learned it wasn't long after she met Apostolu in early September that he started making sexual advances.

Over time, Apostolu's advances turned from the initial comment, "I think you are sexy," to more persistent and direct propositions that included offers to pay the teen to have sex with him and to allow him to take sexually explicit photographs.

In one instance, Apostolu showed the girl a picture of his penis and tried to talk her into having sex, police allege.

In another incident, Apostolu allegedly put his hand inside the girl's shorts and fondled her, prompting the girl to tell Apostolu to stop.

The girl explained she turned down Apostolu's repeated requests, but on April 12, he told her, "You are either going to take pictures for me, or we are having sex," Merritts noted in the charges.

The girl said Apostolu was high on methamphetamine and along with having her car keys, he had a bulge in his pocket that she believed could have been a gun.

She said she was afraid and told Apostolu she couldn't have sex because she had a urinary tract infection and was menstruating. Police said Apostolu continued to demand she have sex with him or allow him to take her picture.

Police said after Torna­tore and Apostolu argued about who was going to have sex with the girl, Tornatore agreed to take the girl into the bedroom to take pictures and make a video.

The girl didn't know it, but the couple had already set up a camera in the bedroom, which was on when the girl and Tornatore walked into the room. Tornatore allegedly undressed and sat next to the girl, who had stripped down to her underwear. Police said Tornatore coaxed the girl into taking off her bra and "continuously nags (the girl) demanding she kiss her."

The girl eventually gives in and Tornatore is seen in the video kissing and fondling the 16-year-old, police noted. When the girl asked Tornatore what she is going to do with the photos, Tornatore allegedly said, "I am going to send them to Stephen and make a video."

Tornatore then showed the girl a video of Apostolu having sex with another girl, although the 16-year-old told police that she didn't know if the girl in the video was underage or an adult.

Smith said Thursday afternoon that this is the first time that human trafficking has been charged in Blair County since the new law was enacted 2014.

The investigation has expanded since June 4 when Apostolu allegedly told Merritts he was addicted to child pornography and Tornatore told the detective that Apostolu was "an avid child pornographer." Altoona police said in June that a member of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit had joined the investigation to help sift through files on numerous electronic media storage devices found at the couple's rented home on the 400 block of Third Avenue.

While Apostolu is charged in connection to the 16-year-old, he was also implicated in another case involving a 17-year-old in which 35-year-old Amy Brosch was arrested on June 13. In that case, Brosch is accused of recruiting the 17-year-old girl so Apostolu could ply her with methamphetamine and record himself engaging in sexual acts with the girl. Apostolu also spoke with the girl about having her work as a prostitute and exploiting the fact she was underage to make more money, according to Brosch's charges.

Angela Meadows, 35, and Joshua Dickson, 31, were also charged June 13 with child endangerment in connection to smoking methamphetamine while leaving their young children, who Meadows said Apostolu wanted to photograph naked, without adult supervision.

Brosch, Meadows and Dickson are slated to appear for a preliminary hearing on July 20. All three remain in jail after failing to post high cash bails.

Apostolu's preliminary hearing was tentatively scheduled for July 11.

Investigators said Thursday they could not say if or when he would be charged in the Brosch case, but Smith said the investigation was ongoing.

Smith urged anyone with information that can help investigators to contact police.

"If anyone out there has information and believes they might know the identity of a child victim involved in this case, please reach out to Detective Merritts at the Altoona Police Department or to Trooper Kaminsky at the state police," Smith said.

"I think this case, when you look at the charges, really demonstrates the toll that child pornography has," Smith said. "It really demonstrates child pornography is not a victimless crime. This is a crime where a child exists and is suffering on the other end of that camera lens."

Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7548.