Former Penn State Student Charged With Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material

A former Penn State student was arraigned Thursday on child pornography charges following an investigation by local and federal law enforcement.

Christopher J. Balta, now 26, of Florida, left behind two USB drives containing images and videos depicting child sex abuse when he moved out of a University Park residence hall in August 2021, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Penn State police.

A staff member discovered one of the drives in an empty office and notified police of its contents after plugging it in to verify the owner. An officer examined the drive and found more than 1,000 files containing child sexual abuse material, as well as documents and other items belonging to Balta, police wrote.

Police determined that Balta had moved out of a dormitory and left behind a number of items that were stored in a basket in the office until he told Residence Life to discard or donate them, according to the affidavit. The USB drive is believed to have fallen out of the basket it in the process of moving it to the basement, police wrote.

A search of Balta’s other belongings found another drive containing 170 photos and 21 videos depicting child sexual abuse, according to the affidavit. Evidence was transferred to the FBI, and in December 2022 agents interviewed Balta in Florida.

Balta allegedly admitted to seeking out child pornography and to possessing an account for cloud-based storage of the materials. A review of the account found “numerous” child pornography files, including videos that were also on the USB drives, according to the affidavit.

The FBI referred the case back to Penn State police, which initially filed four felony charges of child pornography in magisterial district court in February.

Balta was arraigned Thursday by District Judge Don Hahn, who set unsecured bail at $60,000. Balta waived his preliminary hearing, and formal arraignment is scheduled for May 6.