A 23-year-old Scranton man faces charges after investigators said he uploaded files of children engaged in prohibited sexual acts to a social media platform.
Lackawanna County detectives charged Connor Reap, 2218 Capouse Ave., with 12 counts of disseminating photos or video of child sex acts, 12 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and two counts of criminal use of a communications facility.
Detectives launched the investigation after a report was made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tip Line by MediaLab/Kik that files of suspected child sexual abuse material were being viewed or uploaded onto their systems, according to a criminal complaint.
The reports were first provided to the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division and then forwarded to the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office, investigators said. County detectives also downloaded two cyber tips from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, police said.
One cyber tip included five files showing children engaged in a prohibited sexual act, according to the criminal complaint. The account was reported April 22 and IP addresses showed the files were uploaded April 13, investigators said.
Another cyber tip — which was reported May 8 — included seven files of children, under the age of 18, engaged in a prohibited sexual act, police said.
After investigators sent an administrative subpoena to Google, they learned the email address linked to the illicit files belongs to Reap, according to the criminal complaint. Additionally, a Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center report showed Reap lives at the Capouse Avenue address, officers said.
On Thursday, investigators executed a search warrant at Reap’s residence and police found him sleeping in the basement, according to the criminal complaint.
During an interview with investigators, Reap confirmed the reported Kik accounts and email address associated with the cyber tips belonged to him, police said.
Reap admitted viewing child sexual abuse material on Kik and other social media platforms, investigators said. He also confessed to selling the material to numerous people as well as purchasing prohibited material on social media, according to the criminal complaint.
As of Monday, Reap remained in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $125,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is set for July 22 at 10:15 a.m.