Montco man held on federal child porn charges
A Montgomery County man arrested Tuesday on federal charges of distributing child porn and attempting to entice somebody he thought was a 13-year-old girl in Texas to have sex with him was ordered this afternoon by a federal magistrate to remain in custody.
James A. Morgan, 45, was arrested Tuesday at his mother's home in Hatfield Township.
Federal prosecutors filed court papers this morning contending that Morgan, who faces a mandatory minimum 10 years imprisonment if convicted of all offenses, was both a flight risk and a danger to the community.
The court filing provided new details about Morgan's activities beyond those revealed in a criminal complaint yesterday.
The new allegations include details that Morgan sexually abused the daughter of a woman he had met online from 2001 through 2003. The sexual abuse allegedly occurred from the time the girl was nine years old until she was approximately 12, court papers said.
Authorities said state charges related to that case could soon be filed against Morgan in Northampton County. The victim has been interviewed by investigators, court papers said.
Morgan is also involved in a relationship with another woman he met online who has young children, the new court filing said.
Federal prosecutors also said that a preliminary review of Morgan's Yahoo account revealed approximately 5,000 additional chats, most of which involved sexual conversations with and about minors, the court documents stated.
Investigators said Morgan, who was a forklift operator at Costco in Montgomeryville, made contact in a Yahoo chat room on September 14 with the person he thought was a 13-year-old girl but who was really an undercover officer with a Texas sheriff's office.
Morgan identified himself as a Dad from Pennsylvania, then turned a webcam on himself and transmitted a live video of himself masturbating for about 30 minutes, an FBI arrest affidavit said.
When he was finished, Morgan asked for the girl's cellphone number and said he would travel to Texas to see her, the affidavit said.
Morgan allegedly transmitted 36 images and seven videos to the undercover officer, about 15 of which were said to be child porn, and engaged in nine additional conversations up until December 2, the affidavit said.
Prosecutors said that after the FBI searched his mother's home Monday, Morgan admitted he chatted with the undercover officer he thought was a 13-year-old girl, had used his webcam and sent the live sexual videos to the officer and that he transmitted images of child porn to the officer.