Falls Twp. Man Shared Child Pornography With Bar Patrons: PD

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — A 75-year-old township man has been charged for sharing child sexual abuse material to people at a bar he regularly attended, police said.

David Sheldon Roberts was taken into custody by Bristol Township Police on Wednesday and transferred into the custody of Falls Township Police.

He was arraigned Wednesday morning before District Judge John Galloway and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $1 million bail.

Roberts was charged with disseminating photos or films of child sexual abuse, child sexual abuse material, and criminal use of a communication facility, Falls Township Police said.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by Patch, a bartender at a Bristol Pike bar called police to report an incident on Aug. 2.

The bartender told police that a regular bar patron, Roberts, was watching a television show with other customers when they began to comment on a woman's breasts.

The complaint states that Roberts then showed the bartender and other patrons a photograph on his cellphone of a girl with exposed breasts who he claimed was 16 years old, authorities said.

When the bartender told Roberts the photograph was child pornography, Roberts responded that the subject was now 18, the criminal complaint states.

The complaint said the bartender tried to explain to Roberts that the photo was still considered child pornography since the girl was 16 at the time.

On Sept. 2, police served a search warrant and met Roberts at police headquarters. His phone was given to Bucks County Detectives for further review.

During a recorded interview, Roberts stated that he had been to the bar in early August and had shown the bartender a picture of a topless 18- or 19-year-old woman, police said in the criminal complaint.

The complaint stated that Roberts said the woman in the photo he showed to the bartender was from Kentucky and had sent him unsolicited nude photos and videos.

When asked about the possibility of child pornography on his phone, Roberts stated that he did not know if there was any and that he did not always look at the content people sent him. He said that if child pornography was found, he did not know how it got there, police said.