Man cites typo, stress as reasons he viewed child porn, documents say

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- (WPMT) -- A Pennsylvania man is in jail after an investigation into the sharing of child pornography.

Andrew Douglas Moats, 29, was arrested and charged Monday with felony counts of dissemination of images of child sex acts, child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.

The Waynesboro resident downloaded a video file using a file sharing program in November that showed a nude female obviously under the age of 18 years old, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigators say the same IP address used in the download of that file was also connected to another partially downloaded child pornography file in February.

The Adams County District Attorney's Office initially investigated the downloads and gave the information to the Washington Township Police Department.

Washington Township police then obtained a search warrant for Moats' home on Village Heights Drive and interviewed him.

According to court documents, Moats told police during an interview he downloaded child pornography using file sharing programs. He stated that he was downloading and viewing child pornography for about eight years.

Court documents also state Moats said he started viewing child pornography after searching the number 18 for the age of a girl and failed to type the 1, only to then view results involving 8-year-old girls. In addition, he admitted to using the search term “PTHC,” an acronym for preteen hardcore.

He also admitted he was interested in “slender,” “innocent” and “pure” body types of females, according to documents.

Investigators also say Moats reported to them that stressful periods of his life contributed to his viewing of child pornography.