Former Sunday school teacher pleads guilty to child porn raps

By Alex Rose
Daily Times
June 24, 2014

http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20140624/former-sunday-school-teacher-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-raps

STEVEN ALMOND

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A Parskide Sunday school teacher and youth basketball coach pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies of the third degree.

Steven Daniel Almond, a deacon at the Middletown Presbyterian Church, turned himself over to authorities in June 2013 on two counts of disseminating photos or films of child sex acts, 25 counts of sexual abuse of children for possession of child pornography and 27 counts of criminal use of a communication facility.

Almond, 55, of the first block of West Forestview Road, posted 10 percent of $250,000 bail in July.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Delaware County Detective Joseph Walsh, a member of the county’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, identified a computer sharing suspected child pornography on a peer-to-peer file network on June 6, 2013.

Investigators downloaded two files from an Internet protocol address depicting prepubescent girls involved in sexual acts, one of which included intercourse with an adult male. Walsh traced the IP address back to a home computer at Almond’s Forestview Road home.

County detectives, the FBI and police from Parkside and Aston executed a search warrant at that address on June 13. Almond was advised he was not under arrest, but that police were conducting an investigation into the sharing of child pornography, according to the affidavit.

Police said Almond voluntarily admitted he had files of child pornography on his computer, with the youngest child probably 13 or 14 years old.

Authorities confiscated four computers, a portable hard drive, two USB flash drives, three cellphones and 22 CDs and DVDs. Walsh allegedly found more than 50 videos depicting children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts, according to the affidavit, including some less than 5 years old, according to the court document.

Almond, represented by defense attorney William Davis, made no statement during Monday’s short hearing before Judge Gregory Mallon.

Under the negotiated guilty plea worked out by Davis and Deputy District Attorney Michael Galantino, Almond would serve six to 23 months at the county prison in Concord.

Galantino is recommending a split sentence of three months straight time, followed by three months of electronic home monitoring to satisfy the minimum of the sentence, as well as seven years of concurrent sex offender probation. Almond would also have to forfeit the seized devices.

Mallon set sentencing for Sep. 19 pending a state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board evaluation to determine whether Almond is a sexually violent predator.

The period of his registration as a sex offender under Megan’s Law will depend on that report, said Galantino, but as it stands now he will have to register for at least 15 years.