SMETHPORT — A Bradford man who was arrested in October after law enforcement officials found child pornography in his apartment will go to state prison.
Eliot P. Abrams, 31, was sentenced Thursday in McKean County Court before President Judge John Pavlock.
Abrams will serve two to five years with credit for 171 days of time served. He was also sentenced to six months of probation, which he will serve concurrent to — or at the same time as — the prison sentence.
Pavlock ordered that Abrams receive an updated mental health evaluation that focuses on treatment for sex offenders, and Abrams is not allowed to have contact with juveniles.
In December, Abrams pleaded guilty to all six charges filed against him: three counts of child pornography, two counts of dissemination of depictions of child sex acts and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.
On Thursday, Public Defender Philip Clabaugh, who represented Abrams, asked if Abrams could serve his sentence in McKean County; if not, he asked if Pavlock would run the sentences at each count concurrent.
There was a prison sentence at one count that Pavlock ended up running consecutive, not concurrent, to the others.
Speaking on his own behalf, Abrams said, “Throughout the investigation, I was cooperative with every step. I never tried to make excuses for my actions. I’ve taken responsibility.”
Abrams expressed concern about going to state prison, and noted he’s had no issues since he was committed to McKean County Jail.
Abrams has been in jail since Oct. 11, 2016, court records indicate.
“I have a plan going forward,” he added.
While President Judge John Pavlock agreed it would be possible for him to set a sentence to be served in county jail, it would be rare that a sentence that long would not be served in state prison. He added that Abrams’ actions occurred not just once, but over a period of time.
Pavlock said he has to look at how county supervision worked in the past for Abrams, who does have a criminal record.
“There were some violations,” the judge noted.
On the day Abrams pleaded guilty, District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer explained that between May 25 and Oct. 11, Abrams uploaded two pornographic images to a website, which both showed a girl who appeared to be between 8 and 10 years old involved in a sex act with an adult male.
Also during that time, he had three video files on his computer of young girls engaged in sex acts: one showed a girl who appeared to be between 8 and 10, a second had a girl who appeared to be between 5 and 7 and a third had a girl who appeared to be between 10 and 12, Shaffer said.
