LOWER MERION — A Towamencin Township man must answer to charges in Montgomery County Court that he possessed child pornography and had sexually explicit internet communications with whom he believed was an underage girl but in reality was an undercover detective.
Thomas Albert Bowes, 39, of the 700 block of Springhouse Court, waived his preliminary hearing, before District Court Judge Michael P. Quinn of Lower Merion, and was ordered to stand trial on charges of possessing child pornography, distributing child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, possessing an instrument of crime and identity theft in connection with alleged incidents that occurred in October 2023.
Bowes now faces an April 24 formal arraignment hearing on the charges in county court. After that hearing, a county judge will set Bowes’ trial date.
Bowes, who is represented by defense lawyer Andrew Joseph Levin, remains free on bail pending trial.
Bowes was arrested in January during an investigation by members of the county Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Lower Merion police, who in October 2023 began undercover investigations of child exploitation on multiple social media platforms. During that investigation, detectives created undercover profiles and created posts on the various social media platforms, according to a criminal complaint filed by Conshohocken Detective William Walter and Lower Merion Detective John Mick, who are members of the task force.
On Oct. 4, 2023, Bowes allegedly responded to a post on the app “Whisper” that showed a ninth-grade girl with a photo that contained the inscription “Save me from school!!!” Bowes then engaged in a lengthy, sexually explicit text conversation with whom he believed was a 13-year-old girl, but in reality was an undercover detective, according to court papers.
During the text communications, Bowes allegedly sent several photos, including one depicting a woman and a man he falsely claimed to be, court papers indicate.
However, detectives traced that photo of the man and woman to a private Instagram account of the woman. The owner of the account was known to Bowes more than a decade ago, but she had not given him permission to use her photos, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives also traced the internet address related to the email account on the Whisper app to Bowes’ residence on Springhouse Court in Towamencin.
On Nov. 16, detectives armed with a search warrant went to Bowes’ residence and seized his cellphone.
“Thomas Bowes did admit he was responsible for the conversation on Whisper with what he believed to be a thirteen-year-old female but his intention wasn’t to meet with her,” Walter and Mick alleged in the criminal complaint, adding Bowes also admitted to lifting the photo of the woman and man from Instagram without their permission.
When detectives conducted a forensic analysis of Bowes’ cellphone they found multiple videos and photos depicting juveniles in various states of nudity and sexual acts, which were determined to be child pornography, according to the arrest affidavit.
Assistant District Attorney Caroline Goldstein, captain of the district attorney’s Family Protection Unit, is prosecuting the case.
Prosecutors previously said county detectives, along with specially trained and sworn detectives from police departments throughout Montgomery County, routinely work with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force to protect children from internet predators by aggressively and proactively investigating internet crimes that exploit children.
