Borough man accused of ‘collecting’ child porn, keeping fentanyl in reach of children
SHENANDOAH – A Shenandoah man is in Schuylkill County Prison facing 50 felony counts of child pornography and two felony counts of child endangerment, accused of “collecting” child pornography and having fentanyl in reach of two children.
Gregory Lee Yoder, 35, of the 339 West Centre Street, was arrested Thursday and charged by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
The charges, filed by Special Agent Caitlin Smith, came after a nearly six hour search of Yoder’s residence Thursday morning.
At least a dozen unmarked vehicles, led by a marked Shenandoah Police patrol car, arrived at the home just after 6am Thursday to execute a search warrant and some remained until midday.
According to the criminal complaint, police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in May that numerous files of child pornography had been uploaded to Google infrastructure.
The photos included nude toddlers in various sexual acts, according to the criminal complaint.
The tip included an email address and a phone number and the IP address used to log in to the email address was traced to AT&T, as was the phone number.
A subpoena to AT&T listed Yoder as the owner of the cell phone number.
Authorities received a search warrant in August to view the account contents of the Google account related to the case, which revealed photos of an adult male who was identified as Yoder through his social media accounts and PennDOT photo.
Thursday morning, police executed a search warrant on Yoder’s home and two agents interviewed Yoder in his kitchen.
According to the criminal complaint, Yoder admitted that the email account in question was his and that it had been shut down due to child exploitation material. His old cell phone number was also the number in question but he had recently purchased a new phone.
“Yoder admitted to viewing and saving child pornography for the last couple years,” the court documents read. “He stated he was a ‘collector’ and a person that transfers child pornography onto multiple devices.”
He told authorities about where he would get the content and outlined the site and keyword he’d use.
Police seized a laptop, three external hard drives, five USB drives, and a cell phone.
Images were found on one of the USB drives, including 50 videos and images depicting indecent contact with prepubescent children.
During the search, Yoder told police he shared a bedroom with his two children, who are six and nine years old.
While police searched his bedroom for electronics, they found a box containing baggies, an orange pill bottle, and a green bag containing a dark substance.
Shenandoah Borough Police Chief George Carado field-tested the substance which came back positive for fentanyl. The remainder, including glass pipes, was sent for testing.
The items, including the fentanyl bag, were all within reach of the two children, police said.
Yoder is facing 53 felony counts — 50 possession of child pornography, two endangering the welfare of children, and one criminal use of a communications facility — as well as two misdemeanor drug charges.
He was arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker and committed to Schuylkill County Prison, unable to post $100,000 bail.
An arraignment is set for Nov. 21 in Shenandoah.
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