A Montgomery County man is heading to county jail as part of a sentence levied against him last week following a police investigation into possession of child pornography.
Jacob Weiss, 26, of the Fort Washington section of Upper Dublin Township, will serve the next nine to 23 months in county jail along with five years’ probation after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of child porn. Once on probation, Weiss will have to undergo sex offender supervision, comply with all recommendations from his risk assessment and register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for 15 years.
Weiss entered into an open guilty plea agreement with prosecutors in November 2021, meaning the two parties agreed on which charges would be dismissed in exchange for the guilty pleas, but no sentencing agreement was made. His sentencing hearing occurred on April 18.
Weiss was initially charged with 300 felony counts of possession of child pornography, five felony counts of disseminating child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility in connection with the investigation. As a result of the plea agreement, all but two of the possession charges were dismissed, along with the remaining other charges.
A first time conviction for possession of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison, along with a maximum $15,000 fine.
Police said the investigation began when a specially trained detective with the Conshohocken Police Department was surveilling a peer-to-peer file sharing website. The release states that on multiple occasions, the detective was able to connect to an account that was sharing child pornography, resulting in the detective downloading a total of nine video files and five photos.
Investigators were able to trace the account to Weiss’ home, at which point they executed a search warrant on July 9, 2020. Police said they seized a computer tower from Weiss’ bedroom, and a forensic analysis of the computer revealed 692 still images and 38 video files that were determined to include children under the age of 18 years old.
Many of the videos and images included children under 10 years old in various stages of nudity and engaged in sexual acts, the release states.
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