A Dickerson Run man has been charged with the dissemination of child pornography.
Charges were filed at District Judge Dwight Shaner's office Friday against John Joseph Minnick, 64, of 224 Water St.
Minnick was charged with disseminating photo/film of child sex acts after an undercover investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation Computer Crime Unit of the Pennsylvania State Police.
On Dec. 22, 2010, the investigation was conducted into the online sharing of child pornography via peer-to-peer networks. Police said on the Gnutella network, a computer was found using the peer-to-peer client LimeWire. An undercover officer found a downloaded eight-second video file featuring a girl approximately 13 years of age engaged in a sexual act with a man.
The undercover officer determined that the computer's IP address was registered to Armstrong Cable Service, which followed a court order to release the name of the address subscriber, which was Minnick.
Minnick was interviewed at his residence by the state police on Feb. 9, 2011. According to court documents, Minnick allegedly admitted to using file-sharing programs including LimeWire and BearShare and admitted to downloading the files.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.
