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December 01, 2004
Court date set in workplace child porn case
By PRECIOUS PETTY -- The Express-Times -- nj.com
EMMAUS -- A former Lehigh County official accused of downloading child pornography at work waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday, sending multiple counts of sexual abuse of children and related charges to court.
John Seitz, 56, of Upper Milford Township allegedly searched the Internet for child pornography sites using computers at the Lehigh County Housing Authority office in the borough. He then saved images from 12 of the Web sites on his computers, state police said.
Seitz resigned as the housing authority executive director shortly after his Sept. 17 arrest on the child pornography charges.
Attorney Phil Lauer represented Seitz at the 9:30 a.m. hearing before District Justice Donna Butler. Neither man was available for comment afterward.
Lehigh County Senior Deputy District Attorney Matthew Falk declined to comment on the case.
Seitz, of the 6400 block of Indian Creek Road, is charged with a dozen counts each of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication device. He is free on 10 percent of $15,000 bail.
Sexual abuse of children is a second-degree felony that carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, and criminal use of a communication device is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum seven-year sentence.
Seitz's next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 13 before Lehigh County President Judge William Platt.
State police began investigating Seitz earlier this year after the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission discovered images of children engaged in sexual acts stored on two of his office computers.
The commission had seized the computers for an investigation of Seitz unrelated to the pornography charges, state police said. That investigation began April 5 after the commission received information about possible violations of Pennsylvania's Public Official and Employee Ethics Act.
Posted by Nealus at December 1, 2004 01:29 PM
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