Police filed hundreds of child porn related charges against two Westmoreland County men on back-to-back days.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli’s office announced the two arrests as a result of investigations conducted by Pennsylvania State Police’s Southwest Computer Crime Task Force.
That team first got a CyberTip from Kik about a file showing child porn involving a girl between five and eight years old. Police said they used the IP address connected to that tip and traced it back to Joshua David Ward, 34, of Irwin.
State Police got a search warrant and said they found more child porn files on his phone.
111 charges were filed against Ward on Wednesday. He is being held at the Westmoreland County Jail with a bail of $50,000.
Just a day later, 155 charges were filed against Christian Nat Tominello, 29, of Lower Burrell.
Police said he first came up on their radar when State Police received a CyberTip from Snapchat about an inappropriate file involving a girl between 8 and 12 years old.
After using the IP address to track the account to Tominello, police obtained a search warrant for his electronic devices.
Police said they found more than 2,500 files of child sexual abuse material on those devices.
Tominello is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison without bail due to a concern for community safety.
Both men are expected to appear in court on July 29.
Police said the incidents were separate from one another.
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