A Shenandoah man is currently at Schuylkill County Prison after state authorities say they found multiple files containing sexually explicit videos with young children on devices he owned.
Angel German, 28, of E. Coal St. in Shenandoah, is facing 35 felony counts of sexual abuse of children and a single count of criminal use of a communication device, according to court papers filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday.
In its affidavit, the AG’s office says it received tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on June 17 after Google notified the agency that more than 400 files depicting children engaged in sexual acts with adults had been uploaded and stored in Google Photos and Google Drive.
All the tips reported by NCMEC were linked to a Google account owned by German, according to his own alleged admission.
The AG’s office says its investigation revealed that 35 video files contain content that depicts young children engaged in sexual acts with adult men.
Digital forensic inquiries also revealed that devices used to download and store the more than 400 files in question were linked to German.
On Monday, the AG’s office obtained a search warrant for German’s residence in Shenandoah to collect electronic devices and other evidence related to their case.
At 6:01 a.m. on Tuesday, that search warrant was executed at German’s home. German was walking down the steps of his home when he encountered authorities.
Inside the AG’s office computer forensics van, German allegedly admitted that an email belonging to him that was identified in the investigation was shut down by Google due to child exploitation material.
Initially, German told investigators that his account had been hacked but then said he was using WhatsApp and received files that allegedly contained the explicit content. He said this material was sent to him while he was in a chat group with people from the Dominican Republic.
German allegedly admitted to saving and transferring the files from his phone to a thumb drive and also to a tablet that he’d just gotten last week, which is when he said he last viewed the material.
During a search of devices collected during the execution of the search warrant, authorities say they found 35 video files that justify a charge of sexual abuse of children.
German was arraigned before District Magistrate Anthony Kilker on Tuesday, who remanded him to Schuylkill County Prison on $100,000 cash bail, which hasn’t been posted.
He’s due back in court before Kilker on Aug. 22 for a Preliminary Hearing.
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