A Schuylkill County man was sentenced Monday morning to 16½-33 years in state prison for possession and dissemination of child pornography.
The sentence for Joshua Warfel, 35, of Tamaqua, was handed down by Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas Judge William Burke in Courtroom 3. And the sentence went against the recommendation of the state’s Attorney General’s Office, which asked Warfel to be put away for 10-20 years for the crimes to which he confessed.
Warfel’s attorney, Jacqueline Pitts, of the Schuylkill County Public Defender’s Office, attempted to lessen the blow from Burke. She argued that Warfel’s acts were an “isolated episode” in his life and did not take what he did lightly.
“Mr. Warfel fully acknowledges the gravity of his conduct,” Pitts told Burke. “He has demonstrated remorse. He has demonstrated accountability.”
Pitts also pointed to a hearing prior to Monday’s sentencing which determined he is not a sexually violent predator.
“Mr. Warfel should not be defined solely by the child pornography charges,” she argued.
However, Assistant Attorney General Michelle Lynn Laucella emotionally argued that Warfel’s case involved “one of the more heinous acts” that her section has ever processed.
Laucella pointed to conversations Warfel had online when he shared images and videos depicting child pornography.
“He was admitting to having sex with children,” she said, her voice breaking up at times. “He’s bragging about sexual intercourse with them.”
Warfel was not facing any charges of sexual abuse of children.
As for the charges for which Warfel plead guilty to and the evidence that led to that plea, Laucella said, “I’ve seen the videos. They are horiffic. He clearly has an attraction to children. He needs to be away from children, including his own.”
During Monday’s testimony, it was revealed that Warfel has two daughters.
Laucella also disputed that Warfel’s actions were isolated. She pointed to evidence that he used apps like Telegram and Snapchat and connected through a VPN.
“That shows a savviness,” Laucella added.
Burke commended Pitts for doing her job in defending her client but agreed with Laucella, to a degree. In handing down his sentence, he told Warfel that the crimes he committed are among the most heinous a person can commit.
“They’re the most heinous because they deal with young children, who are defenseless,” Burke said. “This is completely beyond comprehension. The content of these images is highly offensive. There’s no explanation for this.”
And although Warfel wasn’t pleading guilty of abusing any children, Burke admonished him for creating victims by his downloading and then sharing child pornography files.
“Mr. Warfel, what was done to these girls … they’re never going to recover,” Burke said. “A 9-year-old girl? Their lives are ruined. You don’t get over this.”
According to Laucella, one of the victims in the media Warfel admitted to downloading and sharing was just 9 years old. She said that in conversations he had online while sharing it that he bragged that it was a relative of his.
Burke also disagreed that Warfel’s acts were “isolated.”
“This wasn’t an isolated incident. You have to seek out that content,” he said. “You had no remorse at the time. You only had remorse when you got caught.”
Finally, before handing down his sentence after hearing the recommendations from both sides, Burke said, “Ten to twenty years? I disagree.”
Warfel pleaded guilty to 35 counts of possession of child pornography. For the first count, Burke sentenced him to 30-60 months behind bars. For counts 2-8, he imposed a 24-28 month sentence on each, all to be served consecutively. On counts 9-35, Warfel was sentenced to 24-48 months concurrent with the previous penalties. He also pleaded guilty to 3 counts of disseminating child pornography and a single count of criminal use of a communication device. Sentences for those crimes will be served concurrently with the first eight.
In total, Warfel will spend the next 16½-33 years in state prison. When he’s released, he’ll be barred from social media and can only use the internet while supervised. He’s also prohibited from any contact with minors.
“I don’t take pleasure in meting out this sentence,” Burke said. “There’s a price to pay for a 9-year-old girl that’s violated.”
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