NORRISTOWN — An Upper Pottsgrove Township man admitted to possessing child pornography and remains in jail while awaiting a formal sentencing hearing later this year.
Aaron Jamal Lattimore-El, 21, of the 1300 block of Windsor Court, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to multiple felony charges of possessing child pornography in connection with incidents in 2023.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci deferred sentencing until later this year so that Lattimore-El can be evaluated by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if Lattimore-El meets criteria under state law to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions while on parole or probation.
The judge said Lattimore-El also must undergo a psychosexual evaluation prior to sentencing.
Lattimore-El will remain in the county jail without bail pending his sentencing hearing.
Lattimore-El potentially faces up to four years in prison on the charges.
Regardless the sentence that Lattimore-El eventually receives, he will have to report his address to state police for 15 years in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Lattimore-El was arrested after an investigation by Montgomery County detectives.
That investigation began on June 26, 2023, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified detectives that it received a report from Dropbox, a file hosting service, that someone attempted to use the service to share a digital file that appeared to be child pornography of a minor child “engaged in lascivious exhibition,” according to an arrest affidavit.
The Dropbox account eventually was linked to Lattimore-El’s internet and email address. When detectives reviewed the Dropbox account they determined it was accessed with a cellphone and they uncovered a folder containing 99 video files and 40 image files depicting child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.
When detectives interviewed Lattimore-El in October 2023, he admitted to creating the Dropbox account but denied any knowledge of viewing or possessing child pornography or using the account to store video files or images, court papers indicate.
Detectives also seized Lattimore-El’s cellphone and analyzed its contents.
A review of the Dropbox account found video and image files depicting child pornography had been moved to a deleted folder, however, the files were not completely removed from the account.
“The user can still access these files for viewing, downloading or sharing. The files are not actually deleted, they are simply moved to another file location and additional steps must be taken by the user to permanently delete the files from the account,” county Detective Walter Kerr explained in the criminal complaint.
Other charges of dissemination of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility are slated to be dismissed against Lattimore-El at time of sentencing.
Assistant District Attorney Margot S. Weitz handled the prosecution. Defense lawyer Mark Damian Hauser represented Lattimore-El during the court proceedings.
