State College Man Faces Child Pornography Charges

A State College man was charged on Thursday with 24 counts related to child pornography after an investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.

Ronald Q. Ross, 26, is charged with one felony count of disseminating photo/film of child sex acts, 22 felony counts of child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility.

According to a criminal complaint, an special agent with the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section received a tip in February from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Google reported a sexually explicit video of children had been uploaded to YouTube in October 2017.

Through a subpoena, investigators tracked the IP address used to upload the video to Tremont Student Living, 201 Vairo Boulevard. The IP address serves up to 294 rooms and 696 potential users, so the IP address could not be tracked to a particular device at a specific time.

Investigators said a search of phone records and information obtained from a subpoena found a phone number associated with the Google account that uploaded the video and determined that Ross had uploaded it, according to the complaint.

After confirming that Ross resided alone in an apartment at the Vairo Boulevard address, investigators executed a search warrant on Thursday at his residence. Investigators said Ross was informed the search warrant was related to child pornography and that he said he wanted to speak to an attorney before answering any questions.

Investigators said they found four videos, including the one uploaded to YouTube, and 18 images of child pornography on Ross’ laptop, as well as ‘numerous images of anime cartoon child pornography’ on his laptop and phone.

Ross was arraigned before District Judge Casey McClain on Thursday afternoon and bail was set at 10 percent of $50,000.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.