Guilty Plea In Sex Crimes Case Sends Man To Prison For 3-10 Years

LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — A Montgomery County man is headed to prison for up to a decade after pleading guilty to attempting to solicit a minor for sex, the prison sentence coming after he had already previously been on probation for similar sex crimes.

Timothy Walter Hallberg, 47, of Whitpain Township, had attempted to meet up with an underage individual for a sexual encounter in Lower Providence back in January 2019, according to an affidavit and criminal complaint by Special Agent Eric J. Barlow of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

In his duties with the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, Barlow had assumed the identify of a teenage girl, and began engaging in online communications with Hallberg, according to the affidavit.

On January 24 and 25, while acting in an undercover capacity online, Barlow and Hallberg communicated, and Hallberg solicited the fictitious 14-year-old girl for sex, stating, “When I come over, we will have real sex,” the affidavit states.

When the fictitious girl responded by asking if she could get pregnant if the two had sex, Hallberg stated that he had had a vasectomy, and she had nothing to worry about, the affidavit states.

Hallberg then allegedly sent the girl three web links to pornographic videos, commenting that he would like to perform some of the acts depicted in the videos on her.

On Jan. 25, 2019, Hallberg went to meet the girl in person at an address in Lower Providence Township and he was intercepted and arrested by investigators with the state Attorney General’s Office, according to the complaint.

A Montgomery County judge on Aug. 2 imposed the sentence of three-to-10-years behind bars after Hallberg pleased guilty to charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt to solicit sex with someone under 16 years of age, statutory sexual assault and other charges, according to court records and media reports.

Hallberg was previously under court supervision dating back to 2014 when he was given probation in connection with a 2013 case in which he admitted to having inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old Lower Merion girl, according to a March 2014 news report.

In that prior case, Hallberg had been charged with sending sexually explicit photos and communications to the girl, and subsequently having inappropriate contact with her, according to the past news reports.

According to a Pottstown Mercury report, Judge Henry S. Hilles III accepted Hallberg’s plea agreement and stated that the defendant would get credit for time served in jail from January 2019 where he was in custody awaiting court movement on the charges.

The Mercury report also said that Hallberg is expected to be placed under state supervision for sex offenders and that he would have to submit to a lifetime requirement of reporting his address to Pennsylvania State Police in accordance with the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.