Franklin County man who told undercover agent about child sex abuse imprisoned 16-40 years
A Fayetteville man will spend at least 15 years behind bars after his communication with an undercover agent on an anonymous messaging app revealed he had raped a child and was in possession of child pornography.
Stewart Hake, 36, was sentenced Wednesday to 16 to 40 years in prison, with credit for 319 days he already served, according to online court records.
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Todd Sponseller issued the sentence in connection with Hake's guilty plea for rape of a child. It runs concurrently to a sentence of two to four years imprisonment for each of the 30 counts of child porn to which he also pleaded guilty.
He will be required to serve one year of probation following his release from prison.
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Hake was involved with an online chat group where members documented the sexual abuse of children, according to court documents.
He was first charged with rape of a child and related counts in July 2018 after an undercover agent from the Kentucky Attorney General's Office contacted him under the guise of joining the group, which was on the free messaging app Kik.
Hake told the agent he had been sexually assaulting a girl for more than six months, according to court documents. He encouraged the agent to have a sexual relationship with a child and gave instructions on how to make it happen. The agent reported in court documents that he had been immediately asked to share sexually explicit images of a child in order to join the group.
A forensic exam later confirmed that the girl had been sexually assaulted. The girl said she had told no one about the abuse.
After receiving notification from authorities in Kentucky, Pennsylvania State Police executed a search warrant at Hake's home on Cedarbrook Court, Greene Township. Hake admitted to taking a photo of a nude Franklin County girl with his phone and sharing it in the "lovegroup" on Kik, according to court documents. The group required members to share “live” proof of child abuse.
In an outside trash can, police found a duffel bag containing a laptop that Hake smashed before police arrived.
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Police seized the computer's hard drive and a Samsung cell phone. Hake was charged in November 2018 with 151 counts of child pornography after a forensic analysis turned up 12 child-porn images on the hard drive and 47 images and 92 videos on the cell phone.
As part of Hake's plea agreement, 121 counts of child porn were dropped, as were 10 charges related to rape of a child, court records show.
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.