Thomas Albert Bowes faces registering as a sex offender for the next 25 years.
A Towamencin Township man has admitted to possessing child pornography and talking to an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old 9th-grade girl online and now awaits sentencing.
Thomas Albert Bowes, 39, of the 700 block of Springhouse Court, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of possessing child pornography and unlawful contact or communication with a minor in connection with incidents that occurred in October 2023, according to court records.
Bowes, who is free on bail, will undergo a psychosexual evaluation and a background investigation prior to sentencing, according to The Mercury.
He also faces a 25-year requirement to register as a sex offender with Pennsylvania State Police.
A joint online investigation was launched in October 2023 between the ICAC task force and members of the Lower Merion Police Department seeking to locate online predators on several social media platforms. Bowes allegedly responded to a post on the app "Whisper” believing it was made by a 13-year-old girl, and a lengthy, sexually explicit text conversation ensued, police said.
According to The Mercury, the undercover detective sent the text “Save me from school” superimposed over a picture, and Bowes replied, “Gladly, Mmmm my favorite age of girls,” per the affidavit.
Investigators said they traced the IP address attached to the Whisper account, which resulted in a search warrant being executed at Bowes’ home in the Morgandale neighborhood on Nov. 16, 2023. During the execution of the warrant, police seized Bowes’ cellphone, which was later forensically downloaded and found to contain seven videos and five images of child pornography, investigators said.
Charges were officially filed against Bowes on Jan. 2, and he was taken into custody and arraigned on Jan. 15 by Magisterial District Judge John Kessler.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
