A Telford man is heading to state prison following a sentencing hearing on charges of aggravated indecent assault, possession of child pornography and related offenses.
Allen Kraus, 41, was sentenced on Tuesday to 2-to-4-years in prison by Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Raymond McHugh. Kraus pleaded guilty in March to charges of aggravated indecent assault, possession of child pornography, criminal use of a communication facility, endangering the welfare of children, indecent assault, and invasion of privacy.
Court records show Kraus will receive credit for 58 days of time served. Upon his release, Kraus is prohibited from having contact with the victims, and he is ordered to undergo sex offender supervision.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Hilltown Township Police Department that began last spring.
According to the criminal complaint, Hilltown Police received a complaint from Bucks County Children and Youth at 6:04 p.m. on April 12, 2021, regarding inappropriate photos that were found on Kraus’ phone. The images reportedly showed that Kraus had taken an upskirt photo of a 10-year-old female and had also had indecent contact with an 8-year-old female, the report states.
Later that evening, investigators met with the complainant, who stated that the 10-year-old victim told them that Kraus bent down next to her, and she heard him take a photo with his phone while it was aimed up her skirt, the report states. The complainant then checked Kraus’ phone, where they found the upskirt image of the victim as well as other images and videos of child pornography, according to the complaint.
At that time, the complainant sent the files from Kraus’ phone to their own phone, then provided the files to investigators as evidence, the report states. The complainant added that Kraus had confessed to inappropriately touching the 8-year-old victim earlier that day, according to the report.
Investigators then performed a forensic download of the complainant’s phone — containing the files from Kraus’ phone — which returned multiple images and videos of teenage and prepubescent children engaged in sexual activities, the report states.
On April 13, 2021, investigators spoke with Kraus, who turned over his Apple iPhone and admitted to using the phone to take upskirt photos of the 10-year-old victim, police said. When asked why he took the photos, Kraus stated “The devil got hold of me,” then also admitted to fondling the 8-year-old victim, the report states.
Police questioned Kraus about a video on his phone of an adult male raping a child believed to be between the ages of 5 and 6 years old, at which point Kraus confessed that he had downloaded the file to his phone using the Telegram application, the report states. Kraus confessed to other instances of using the Telegram application to download child pornography, and he also confessed to fondling the 10-year-old victim in addition to taking the upskirt photo, according to the report.
Investigators would later discover that a third victim — a 16-year-old female — stated that Kraus had taken an upskirt photo of her in March, according to the report.
Kraus was taken into custody on April 27, 2021.
See also:
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