A Schuylkill County man is behind bars Tuesday after he was arrested on charges he possessed digital files believed to portray young children in sexual acts.
According to a criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police’s Computer Crimes Unit, Gary Hysock Jr. was the focus of an investigation dating back to May of this year.
At that time, the apps MeetMe and KIK notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about users engaged in exploitation of children. The case was originally sent to the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office but further investigation revealed that one of the user’s IP addresses traced by to Hysock Jr. in Cumbola.
Authorities say a Motorola device contained at least 10 images of a sexual nature involving young children. One image is believed to show a child as young as 4-6 years of age.
On Monday, District Magistrate Judge Dave Plachko signed a search warrant for Hysock Jr.’s home on Market St. in Cumbola, where he lived with his girlfriend and two children.
An initial interview with Hysock Jr., according to State Police, resulted in him denying any knowledge of the KIK app and that he only used the internet to play games. Hysock Jr. reportedly told police that he knew of MeetMe as a dating app but hadn’t used it in about a decade. Police say he denied ever seeing or sharing images of chid pornography.
A forensic review of a Motorola device was then performed and that’s when authorities say they found evidence that Hysock Jr. was lying during their initial interview.
In a follow-up interview, Hysock Jr. allegedly told investigators that he did have a KIK account and that’s where he received the illicit images, in chat groups there. He reportedly said he would then share those images on the app with the intention of getting more files.
“Hysock stated that he was attempting to see how far he could push it and wanted to know what was out there. He stated that he was intial(ly) curious about the child pornography and later became sexually aroused,” investigators write in their complaint.
Hysock Jr. reportedly also told investigators that he never sexually abused children and that the files were “merely fantasy” and that he was looking for other people also interested in them.
He was arraigned Tuesday afternoon before Plachko on felony charges of possessing child pornography, disseminating files that show children performing sex acts, and criminal use of a communications device.
Plachko remanded Hysock Jr. to Schuylkill County Prison on $150,000 bail, which hasn’t been posted.
Image: Canva
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