Matthew E. Poese, who had run YMCA Camp Fitch, is set to plead guilty in federal court in Erie in August.

The now-former executive director of YMCA Camp Fitch in North Springfield is scheduled to plead guilty to a federal felony charge of child pornography.

Matthew E. Poese, who has been fired from the camp, is accused of possessing and accessing child pornography on a cell phone from November through June, according to records filed in U.S. District Court in Erie. His plea hearing is set for August.

Poese was the executive director of Camp Fitch at the time the government alleges he possessed the pornography. Both the camp's CEO and Poese's lawyer, Stephen Sebald, said their understanding is that the activity did not involve Camp Fitch, which hosts about 16,000 campers and other people annually at its 450-acre site on Abels Road in North Springfield, along Lake Erie. The YMCA of Youngstown, Ohio, owns Camp Fitch.

"Absolutely none of it that I am aware of stems at all from the camp," Sebald said. "And I know they investigated that."

The CEO of the YMCA of Youngstown, Thomas Gacse, said "the charge does not allege any misconduct or inappropriate activity by Mr. Poese with any Camp Fitch camper."

Gacse, in an email, said Camp Fitch "fully supported the FBI in its investigation" of Poese, and that "as soon as we learned of this investigation, we suspended his employment and banned him from all our properties. His employment has since been terminated."

"At Camp Fitch, the safety and well-being of children in our care always has been and always will be a top priority," Gacse also said. "We are aware of the charge against Matt Poese and are deeply disturbed and saddened by his alleged actions.

"All pre-employment checks conducted on Mr. Poese came back clean — he had no previous record or any other cause for concern in his background, nor has he had any disciplinary issues during his tenure with Camp Fitch."

Gacse said Camp Fitch, in addition to performing the required background checks, carries out required staff training for recognizing and preventing child abuse, and he said the camp works with consultants to eliminate child abuse in organizations.

"We take our responsibility to children and their families very seriously," Gacse said.

Poese, 47, of Fairview Township, was charged in federal court in Erie on July 8 with one count of possessing material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, according to court records. Poese on Monday agreed to waive an indictment and plead guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone on Aug. 12, according to an order docketed on Thursday.

Poese is not in custody. He will face a maximum of 10 years in state prison if Cercone accepts his guilty plea.

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold, declined to comment.

The government charged Poese through what is known as a criminal information rather than an indictment by a grand jury. The filing of an information often signals that a case is headed to a swift resolution, typically through a guilty plea.

The information in Poese's case provides no indication of what spurred the investigation against him. The information alleges that he "did knowingly possess and access with intent to view" child pornography, and that the images had been transported in interstate commerce "by means of a cell phone."

Ed Palattella can be reached at 870-1813 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNpalattella.