A 73-year-old Burrell Township man waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday on numerous child pornography-related charges. According to police, more than 1,000 pornographic depictions have been confiscated from John Joseph Burke’s Cherry Run Road residence. Charges against Burke were revised, said District Attorney Scott Andreassi, to account for physical photographs and downloaded material that were found in Burke’s residence. The charges are a result of several search warrants conducted by police at Burke’s residence in September. He is charged with a total of 2,057 counts of sexual abuse of children, according to police. Within that charge are two subsections that Burke is facing. He is charged with 1,057 counts of allegedly possessing the images, under a sexual abuse of children subsection. He is also charged with 1,000 counts of knowingly permitting a child under 18 years old to engage in or simulate a sexual act, under a sexual abuse of children subsection, according to documents filed in the case. He is charged with 207 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, namely the Internet, according to police. Burke is a retired truck driver. A satellite television worker who was at Burke’s residence Sept. 7 saw pictures of nude or partially nude children and reported it to police, according to the affidavit. The worker said that Burke asked him if the “remote control came with a 10-year-old boy to show me how to operate it,” according to the affidavit. The pictures depicted nude or partially nude children or children engaged in various sex acts with other children or adults. The images were mostly male adults and children between the ages of 8 and 11, according to authorities.

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