NORRISTOWN — A Montgomery Township man is headed to prison after he admitted to disseminating child pornography while he lived in Upper Moreland Township.
David W. Shull, 44, most recently of the 100 block of Stafford Circle, Montgomery Township, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 1½ to 3 years in a state correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of dissemination of child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred in 2021 in Upper Moreland.
Judge Virgil B. Walker also ordered Shull to complete three years of probation consecutive to parole, meaning Shull will be under court supervision for six years.
The judge recommended that Shull be housed at either the State Correctional Institution at Waymart in Wayne County or at the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands in Somerset County “for medical purposes.”
Additionally, Shull faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Shull was arrested during an undercover investigation by members of the Pennsylvania State Police Southeast Computer Crime Task Force.
The investigation began on April 8, 2021, when an undercover state trooper “was able to locate a computer which was sharing child pornography” via a file-sharing network. The trooper subsequently was able to download contraband digital files from the computer user, according to a criminal complaint filed by state police Trooper Dante Poole.
The video depicted a female child, approximately 3-to-6-years-old engaged in a sexual act with an adult male, according to court papers.
Police traced the internet address of the user to Shull, who at that time was residing at an apartment along the 2500 block of Maryland Road in the Willow Grove section of Upper Moreland Township.
On May 13, 2021, state police went to Shull’s residence with a search warrant and made contact with Shull.
“He admitted he has downloaded child pornography multiple times on his personal Samsung Galaxy cellphone,” Poole alleged.
When police conducted an initial forensic examination of Shull’s cellphone they uncovered more than 100 files depicting children under the age of 18 engaged in prohibited sexual content, according to the arrest affidavit.
Later, a more complete forensic analysis of the phone’s content uncovered more than 700 videos and more than 150 images depicting children under 18 engaged in prohibited sexual acts or poses, court documents alleged. The videos and images depicted children as young as 3 years old, police alleged.
A charge of criminal use of a communication facility was dismissed against Shull.
Assistant District Attorney Bradley Walter Deckel prosecuted the case. Defense lawyer Nicholas James Reifsnyder represented Shull during the court proceedings.
