COURTHOUSE >> A Lower Moreland man was sentenced to a lengthy term of probation on Monday for possession of child pornography.
Samuel Joseph Lowes, 23, was sentenced to five years of probation and 60 hours of community service. In February, Lowes pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
On May 9, 2012 police received information that someone had bragged about having a hit list in a chatroom and allegedly talked about killing his neighbors. Police were able to track the IP address of the computer where the alleged threat came from back to Lowes’ home.
Investigators went to Lowes’ home and began searching the computers. Lowes was seated during the search and asked if he was in trouble. A detective replied that he was not sure and the investigation had just begun.
“We’re not going to find any child porn are we?” One of the detectives asked Lowes during the search of the computers.
“I don’t know,” Lowes replied, according to the arresting affidavit. “I did see some pictures of younger girls some time ago when I was younger. I was their age.”
The computers were seized and taken to the Montgomery County Detective Bureau to be investigated for Lowes’ alleged threats to his neighbors. While a Montgomery County detective was examining the computers he saw what he suspected was child pornography. The arresting affidavit states investigators later found 2,474 files of pictures and movies depicting children under 18 “engaged in sexual acts or posing in a sexually explicit manner.”
Court records show that Lowes was not charged with allegedly making the threatening messages over the internet.
