A Bradford man has been charged with 24 felonies relating to possessing child pornography.
Abrahm Hatcher, 21, of 869 W. Washington St., was arraigned Monday on 11 counts of child pornography, second-degree felonies; 11 counts of disseminating photos or films of child pornography, second-degree felonies; and one count each of criminal use of a communication facility and child pornography, third-degree felonies.
According to the criminal complaint, on June 23, 2022, Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Unit received a complaint from Internet Crimes Against Children relating to eight Cybertip reports from the website Discord, a voice, video and chat app.
Discord reported that eight videos of child pornography were uploaded to its infrastructure. The videos showed graphic sexual abuse imagery. The app provided the email address and User ID of the person who had uploaded the videos; both were traced to Hatcher. Five videos involved prepubescent children, while three involved pubescent children, the complaint stated.
In November of 2022, two more Cybertips were reported from Discord, again traced back to Hatcher.
On May 12, 2023, a search warrant was executed on Hatcher’s residence at the time, which was a first floor apartment on Congress Street. Police interviewed Hatcher at the scene. He admitted to sending the videos to other users, but said he was “not sexually interested in children, but was interested in ‘cringe culture’ and found it enjoyable seeing terrible things and people,” the complaint stated. Police said he likened the videos to a form of currency to communicate with users.
Police obtained an additional search warrant for Hatcher’s Discord accounts and found an additional video of child pornography involving a prepubescent child. Items seized at Hatcher’s residence included a device with an additional image of child pornography — nudity. On that same device, police found the email accounts associated with the Cybertips.
“There were also website visits about topics including self-described brutal, extreme and sick porn videos,” the complaint stated.
Hatcher was arraigned Monday before District Judge Dom Cercone and released on $50,000 unsecured bail. He is scheduled for Central Court on Aug. 31.
