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City man sentenced on child pornography charges

Vicars classified as Tier II sexual offender

HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona man will spend nine to 23.5 months in Blair County Prison for having child pornography photographs and videos on his cellphone.

Dane R. Vicars, 29, 312 Fourth St., second floor, rendered guilty pleas Thursday in Blair County Court to three felony charges for knowing, disseminating and possessing photographs and videos of underage girls performing sex acts or in various stages of undress.

In exchange for the pleas, Assistant District Attorney Derek Elensky asked Judge Timothy Sullivan to impose five years’ probation following Vicars’ release.

In addition, the pleas classify Vicars as a Tier II sexual offender under the state’s Megan’s Law. So for the next 25 years, Vicars will need to regularly register his current address and related information with state police.

That should be sufficient to keep the community safe, Elensky told Sullivan.

Defense attorney Ted Krol of Hollidaysburg said he offered what he believed to be some viable pretrial motions, seeking to challenge and suppress evidence that police collected and used in filing charges in 2017 against Vicars.

Altoona police conducted two searches of Vicars’ cellphone, one in 2015 after the mother of a 14-year-old girl contacted them about inappropriate text messages her daughter was receiving from Vicars, who was then working at the Logan Valley Mall.

A second search identified Vicars’ use of a mobile messaging app called Kik to secure child pornography pictures and videos that Vicars allegedly shared with others.

Krol, in court documents, indicated that police had no valid legal reasons to conduct the second search of Vicars’ cellphone because the first search showed that no laws were broken during the exchange of inappropriate text messages.

But if a judge concluded otherwise, Vicars could have faced a more severe penalty, Krol said.

Elensky acknowledged Krol’s suppression argument as having “some merit” but described evidence in the case as solid. In support of the charges, Altoona police reported the finding of 65 child pornography images on Vicars’ cellphone along with 10 messages he allegedly had with underage girls.

Elensky said the plea agreement also reflects an incarceration period that falls within the state’s standard sentencing guidelines and his lack of a prior record.

Sullivan also agreed that Vicars could delay his entry to Blair County Prison, as long as he provided immediate notice to the Blair County Parole and Probation Office of his pending entry. Vicars has been out of jail on unsecured bail since his Aug. 8, 2017, arrest.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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