Centre County Man Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

A Centre County man was charged on Saturday for allegedly possessing and disseminating material depicting child sexual abuse.

Louis B. Wetzel, 39, of Walker Township, admitted to investigators that he had been using online messaging services to trade and view the images and videos, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the state police Computer Crimes Unit.

State police received information from the FBI that a man arrested in Boston for possessing child sexual abuse material had been exchanging images with a man in Pennsylvania, who troopers identified as Wetzel through a phone number associated with a messaging app account, according to the affidavit.

Investigators served a search warrant on Friday at Wetzel’s home and found he had two mobile devices with “numerous” images and videos depicting child sexual abuse of primarily girls between the ages of approximately 10 and 17, police wrote. He allegedly admitted to viewing and trading child pornography for one-and-a-half to two years.

Wetzel was charged with one felony count each of child pornography and disseminating photos or films of child sex acts.

He was arraigned by District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker and released on $75,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13.