Huntingdon school volunteer facing child porn charges
Leavelle arrested after Snapchat tip led officers to search computer
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From Mirror staff reports
A Saxton man who volunteered at the Huntingdon Area School District is behind bars after a Snapchat tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led officers to find child pornography on his home computer.
Brett William Leavelle, 27, was arraigned on Jan. 16 by Magisterial District Judge John J. Hanner II on single felony counts of child pornography, dissemination of photographs of child sex acts and criminal use of a communication facility. He remains free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
On April 15, 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cybertip from Snapchat, reporting an account that uploaded an image depicting child sexual exploitation material. Snapchat passed along the account's IP address, which traced back to the Carlisle area. The image depicted a juvenile male, estimated to be between 5 and 7 years old, standing nude on a bed, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
An administrative subpoena was sent to Comcast for subscriber information attached to the IP address associated with the Snapchat account, which returned Leavelle's information. On Sept. 18, 2024, members of the Central Computer Crimes Task Force, state police at Carlisle and Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at Leavelle's residence in Newville, court documents state.
While speaking to Leavelle at his residence, officers asked if he received an email from Snapchat stating his account was blocked or shut down, to which Leavelle said yes. Officers then asked if Leavelle had ever sent child porn on the internet, and Leavelle said about 10 years ago, when he was 16 or 17, he would try to find nude images of individuals his own age. During the forensic preview of Leavelle's computer on scene, officers allegedly found multiple artifacts of child porn.
At a recorded interview with state police at Carlisle, Leavelle said the image pertaining to the Snapchat tip was sent to him by a random person he was talking to on the platform. He told officers this person asked Leavelle if he had any other similar images, according to the affidavit.
Leavelle then changed his initial statement and confirmed he sent the image of the naked juvenile male to the person. Leavelle said he kept the juvenile's image, along with other images, in his cloud storage from about 12 years ago, but then accessed and sent the image through Snapchat. A full forensic analysis was completed on all of Leavelle's devices and recovered more than 100 images, the report states.
In a letter posted to the Huntingdon Area School District website, Superintendent Jennifer Mitchell wrote they "recently became aware of serious charges against a district volunteer."
"The district took immediate action, as the safety of our students is paramount," Mitchell wrote. "We want to reassure parents that this volunteer was not left alone with district students. Staff were present during school activities and events."
Mitchell closed her letter by saying the district would comply with any investigation and the district's music program, "guided by our dedicated educators," would "continue to provide a high-quality educational experience" for all of the district's students.
Leavelle is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in front of Hanner II on Feb. 27.