Allen Kraus, 40, of Telford.
A Telford man accused of sexually abusing two young girls and taking upskirt photos of others has pleaded guilty to 17 felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the investigation.
Allen Kraus, 40, was scheduled to go to trial on Monday, however he instead pleaded guilty to all charges, including one count of aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, five counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of criminal use of a communication facility, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and four counts of invasion of privacy without consent.
An additional count of aggravated indecent assault without consent was disposed during Kraus’ preliminary hearing last year, and one count of possession of child pornography was also withdrawn at that time.
Court records show that sentencing has been deferred to a later date. Kraus continues to be held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10% of $500,000 cash bail.
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.
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