A Schuylkill County man, already registered as a sex offender, is facing new charges for possessing explicit images of children.
According to court papers filed by Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Justin Rosboschil, Timmy Ray Fenstermaker, 36, of St. Clair was charged on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024, with 7 counts of possessing child pornography, 7 counts of disseminating photos of child sex acts, and 7 counts of criminal use of a communication facility.
The charges stem from an investigation that began on December 27th, 2023, when the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Unit received 2 Cybertipline Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
According to the report, Google sent the notification relative to an individual possessing/uploading 14 digital files of child pornography from a home network in the 400 Block of Walnut Street in Ashland.
Through search warrants and questioning the homeowner, it was learned that images were uploaded through an account owned by Fentstermaker, a friend of the homeowner. Fenstermaker had lived at the home from September 11th, 2023 to January 12th, 2024, but had since moved to St. Clair.
It was also learned that Fentstermaker was registered sex offender.
The investigation moved onto Fenststermaker's apartment on South 2nd Street, in St. Clair where he was questioned, and a search warrant was executed.
Fentstermaker would begin by denying that he viewed child pornography but as the interview continued would admit that it was possible that images would be on his old device and that he was unable to delete them.
On January 26th, 2024, Fentstermaker would be taken into custody for violating his Megan's Law restrictions for not registering with the State Police and would be locked up in Schuylkill County Prison.
Additional search warrants would be executed on Fentstermaker's devices where 127 images of "age difficult material" would be found.
Fentstermaker has remained locked up in Schuylkill County Prison since the arrest in January on $75,000 straight cash bail.
A preliminary hearing on the new charges is scheduled for before Magisterial District Judge David Plachko.