Fayetteville man faces 49 counts of child porn possession

Amber South | Chambersburg Public Opinion

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WAYNESBORO - A Fayetteville man who is accused of possessing more than a hundred files of child pornography is to appear in court on Tuesday.

Brett Mikal McNew, 28, faces 49 felony counts of child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility. He is in Franklin County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, online court records show.

A tip from Microsoft about one file of alleged child pornography in February set investigators on McNew's trail, a special agent with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit wrote in charging documents filed in Magisterial District Judge's Annie Gomez Shockey's office in Waynesboro.

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Microsoft reported that an image of child pornography had been uploaded to its One Drive cloud service on Feb. 5 and provided the IP address used.

Using a public database, investigators determined the IP address belonged to Comcast.

Investigators issued subpoenas to Comcast and Microsoft and determined the IP address and the Microsoft account to which the image was uploaded were connected to a home at 7038 Brownsville Road, Fayetteville. Using a police database, they determined the IP address, Microsoft account and address had not previously been involved in a child exploitation investigation.

Agents conducted surveillance on the home. They used Pennsylvania Department of Transportation records to determine that four people lived there, and the United States Postal Service inspector confirmed they still received mail at the home.

Agents from the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General executed a search warrant on the home this past Tuesday.

McNew and a woman were home at the time. Investigators pulled McNew aside for an interview and told him it was in relation to child pornography. An investigator told McNew he believed McNew knew that was the reason.

"Brett at this time lowered his head and then nodded in agreement," an investigator wrote in court documents.

Asked why he thought police had a search warrant, McNew said it was likely because he had looked at "stuff" he should not have, according to court documents.

McNew admitted to viewing child pornography. He described to investigators what the child pornography depicted and how he would use it, according to court documents.

He gave investigators access to his cell phone and laptop, both of which he used to view pornography, according to court documents. He added he would look up content on his phone first, then use an email account to save files to his Microsoft One Drive account.

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McNew told investigators he would save content that he viewed from various websites in a folder labeled on his laptop, thumb drives and an external hard drive. He said he recalled saving at least two videos of young girls, one of which showed a girl he believed was between 10 and 12 years old performing a sexual act on a boy about the same age.

McNew told investigators he first viewed child pornography about five years ago and has continued doing so on and off since then. He said he views child pornography about once a month and sometimes more, and said he had most recently viewed it the week before.

Agents looked at the content on electronic storage devices in the home. On the laptop in McNew's bedroom, they found about 150 images of child pornography.

"It is important to note that the images and videos located on the devices represent only a minor sampling of the apparent child pornography actually found on the items," police wrote in court documents.

All electronic items were taken to the Computer Forensic Unit's secured evidence room until a complete forensic analysis can be completed, according to court documents.

Agents also spoke to the woman who was home when the search warrant was being executed. She said McNew pays for the internet at the home. She added he lives by himself on the second floor of the home, and that she and her husband had not been up there in a couple years.

McNew's preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday.