Child Porn Possession Ends In Probation For Montco Man

NORRISTOWN, PA — A Montgomery County man who was arrested two summers ago after investigators received a tip that the man possessed images depicting child pornography has been sentenced in Common Pleas Court after he admitted to his crimes.

Richard D. Gilbert, 33, of Upper Providence Township, was given five years of court supervised probation after he pleaded guilty this spring to one felony count of child pornography possession and one felony count of criminal use of a communications facility.

The guilty plea was made on Aug. 26 before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas M. DelRicci, according to court records in the case.

The judge ordered that the sentences for both crimes be carried out concurrently, as opposed to consecutively.

Montgomery County prosecutors had announced Gilbert's arrest back on July 23, 2020, which came after investigators say they had received a Cybertip in late 2019 that originated from an upload of two jpg files depicting pre-school-aged girls and one video file of an adult male with a very young girl.

Detectives who investigate child sex crimes determined the images and video to be acts of child pornography, and the computer that was used to upload the jpg images and video were ultimately traced to Gilbert's home using a Gmail account connected to Gilbert's phone number, according to the DA's Office.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Gilbert's residence in late January 2020 and seized the man's desktop computer. A forensic examination uncovered 10 files of child porn, including images of babies being sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors.

Patch reported on the case at the time of Gilbert's arrest.

Related: Upper Providence Man Had Child Porn Of Pre-School Aged Girls: DA

Gilbert was initially hit with a total of 10 felony child porn counts, but court records show that most of those felony charges were dropped in exchange for Gilbert agreeing to plead guilty on the one felony child porn count and the one felony charge of criminal use of a communications facility.

In addition to the five-year probation sentence, DelRicci also ordered Gilbert to register as a convicted sex offender, to have no unsupervised contact with minors, and to continue with sex offender treatment.

The judge also determined that Gilbert's contact with his own child should be subsequently determined by a family court judge in the Family Division of Common Pleas Court, according to court records.

The docket sheet shows that the judge ordered all electronic devices seized from Gilbert in connection with the case be forfeited to the state, although the judge also ordered the return of Gilbert's wife's electronic devices to her.