Chambersburg man charged with 81 felony counts related to child pornography
Carley BonkA Chambersburg man was arrested after a tip from Google led to the discovery of child pornography on his laptop and cell phone, authorities said.
John Footen, 70, faces 81 felony counts related to child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, according to court documents.
A special agent with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General's Child Predator Section first received tips from Google on Jan. 9.
The tips noted that Footen had allegedly uploaded and reviewed four images depicting young girls engaging in sexually explicit acts. The files were uploaded on Oct. 15, 2018.
The special agent filed a subpoena for information regarding the IP address of Footen from Comcast on Jan. 19.
Information from Comcast and PennDOT allowed authorities to locate Footens' address on Whitley Drive in Chambersburg.
Agents from the Attorney General's Office executed a search warrant at Footen's home at 6:43 a.m. Oct. 4. Footen was informed of his Miranda Rights and agreed to speak with agents without the presence of a lawyer, authorities said.
Both the email account and phone number in question were confirmed by Footen.
When asked by agents, Footen said he didn't know why they were there to question him, police said.
He initially told agents he did not have any child pornography, but had visited "internet websites" including "PureNudity" with a specific interest in "family nudity" and "nudist colonies," according to charging documents.
Footen further explained that he had "seen nude children in the nudist colony setting while searching for porn and that he doesn't like doing it," but it may be an "addiction" for him.
He also told authorities that if anything was uploaded to his Google account, it wasn't meant to be and was a "mistake."
Upon further questioning, Footen admitted to searching for child pornography because he "thought nudist images of children were legal," authorities said.
The Computer Forensics Unit apprehended Footen's Toshiba laptop and Motorola phone as evidence.
Over 80 images with a focus of nude prepubescent children were recovered from both devices, just a small sampling of the total number of images noted by authorities.
Footen ultimately admitted to searching for nudist colony images "with the intent of focusing on nude children for the purpose of sexual gratification," according to charging documents.
He was put in Franklin County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Footen is scheduled to appear before Magisterial District Judge Kenneth Manns for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 15.
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