Courts
Defendant is free on $50,000 bond as he awaits a sentencing date in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court
A Lansdale man admitted Monday in Montgomery County court to causing or knowingly permitting a minor to engage in a prohibited sexual act, and will be sentenced at a later date.
Connor Michael Shutter, 21, of the 100 block of East 7th Street, was accused of grooming and sharing nude videos and photos of a 12-year-old Upper Gwynedd Township child on social media. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of photographing, videotaping, depicting on computer or filming sexual acts of a minor, per court records.
Under the charge, the defendant knowingly permitted a child under the age of 18 years to engage in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such act, or knows or has reason to know or intends that such act may be photographed, videotaped, depicted on a computer, or filmed, or knowingly photographed, videotaped, depicted on computer or films a minor engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act, per state law.
Other felony charges of contact with a minor for the purpose of sexual abuse, possession of child pornography, and corruption of minors by a defendant 18 years or older were dismissed against Shutter as part of the plea, according to court documents.
Shutter committed the offenses using Discord and Snapchat in 2023.
On July 17, 2023, Upper Gwynedd authorities received a report of an adult male who met with a 12-year-old child for sex, according to the criminal affidavit. The parents of the victim reported that on or about July 15, 2023, at midnight, Shutter came to their home to meet their child, police said.
Unbeknownst to the parents, Shutter had been communicating and sending and receiving explicit photos and videos with their child on various social media platforms, including Snapchat, Discord and Skype, according to investigators. Police said Shutter agreed to meet the victim that night to have sex in their home.
As a result, the victim’s parents checked the child’s social media and found Snapchat communications between the victim and an account named “Bell S.,” police said. “Bell S.” would later be identified as Shutter, police said.
In the Snapchat conversations, “Bell S.” communicated in a sexual nature with the victim and sent photos and videos of himself in various stages of undress and arousal, police said.
After the victim’s parents identified Shutter, they learned he was 19 years old and contacted him to tell him they did not want him to communicate with their child, according to the complaint.
Investigators found communications on the victim’s laptop between Shutter and the victim on Discord, according to the affidavit. The communications, police said, occurred one month after the victim’s parents notified Shutter of their child’s age. The two then used Skype to video chat, police said.
On Aug. 20, 2023, authorities said the victim and Shutter discussed meeting one another again, but it never transpires. Communication via social media continued through August 2023, September 2023, December 2023, and January 2024, police said.
A subsequent forensic interview of the victim was completed by Mission Kids, wherein the victim disclosed after they met Shutter in person in July 2023, and after their parents told Shutter the victim was only 12 years old, Shutter and the victim continued to surreptitiously communicate via Instagram, Twitter and Discord, police said.
In one conversation, police said Shutter indicated he wished to get an apartment with the victim, move them in at 16 years of age, and then get married.
Shutter is free on $50,000 cash bond, ahead of sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled by the Common Pleas Court. He is represented by Blue Bell attorney Adam Zucker.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
