TOWANDA, Pa. (WETM) — A Towanda man was arrested after a months-long investigation into the alleged transfer of child porn over the internet in January, police say.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, 55-year-old James Maxwell was arrested on May 11, and faces the following charges:
- Two counts of child pornography, Felony in the second degree.
- 20 counts of child pornography, Felony in the third degree.
- One count of disseminate photo/film of child sex acts, Felony in the third degree.
- One county of criminal use of communication facility, Delony in the third degree.
Police say that on January 4, 2023, a tip was made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tip Line concerning activity in January related to the possible possession/sharing of child porn.
The video shared in the tip had been turned in by Discord Inc., a message and image/video-sharing app. The device connected to the video had sent it through Discord, with Discord Inc. having the ability to get the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device and turn it into authorities.
Every device has a unique IP address, and through that, authorities are able to pinpoint where the device is located and who the device is registered to.
Through the help of Discord Inc., they were able to provide authorities with the account and contact information of the device that sent the video.
The report states that police completed a subpoena to Comcast Cable Communications for more information on the IP address and who it belonged to. Police say that the subpoena was returned on March 13, and had Maxwell as the Comcast subscriber.
A similar process was done with the phone number through AT&T Mobility in January, finding that the number was registered under Maxwell.
Police had used PennDOT records to match the billing address on the phone records to pinpoint and confirm Maxwell’s location in Towanda.
A search warrant was obtained and on May 11, police conducted the warrant on Maxwell’s residence. Maxwell wasn’t home at the time of the search, but police say he was found at a Dandy Mini-Mart in Towanda not long after.
The Affidavit says that police found Maxwell to be in possession of a Samsung phone at the time of his detainment. The report says that Maxwell was then transported back to his residence where police talked to both Maxwell and his son.
More information was gathered from the men and later that day, police obtained a search warrant for Maxwell’s phone. A search was done, with police finding numerous images of child porn on the device, with at least two of the videos containing sexual contact with a child.
Maxwell remains in the Bradford County Correctional Facility.
