The former State College Area School District custodian who was charged with over 15,000 felony counts related to child pornography has reached a plea deal.
Adam Hinton, 25, of Port Matilda, pleaded guilty to 800 counts of sexual abuse of children — dissemination, a second degree felony, as well as three counts of criminal use of a communication facility, a third degree felony.
Hinton will spend five to 10 years behind bars in exchange for the plea, according to a press release from the office of district attorney Stacy Parks Miller.
“This was one of the worst child pornography cases we have ever seen and we believe the sentence is appropriate for the volume and content of the images,” Parks Miller said. “The children in those images are real.”
Hinton was initially arrested on June 1 by state police for possession and disseminating child pornography. Police discovered the crimes during a three-month investigation, in which they observed Hinton “actively sharing videos and images depicting child pornography” using a peer-to-peer file sharing application called BitTorrent.
“On three separate occasions, law enforcement officers downloaded over 300 pornographic images and/or videos depicting child pornography from the [Hinton’s] computer,” the release said.
Police obtained a search warrant with this information, which they used to seize his personal computer. A forensic analysis of his laptop turned up 535 pornographic images of infants, toddlers, and some depicting bestiality. Charges were filed immediately as law enforcement officers believed Hinton to be a danger to children.
A further analysis of his computer turned up thousands of images, leading to additional charges. Many of those were later consolidated or dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Hinton’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17. He will be assessed by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board prior to that hearing to determine if he qualifies as a sexually violent predator. Hinton will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
