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  2 Men Face Charges in Separate Porn Cases

By Jill King Greenwood
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review [Pennsylvania]
May 24, 2006

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_455204.html

A former Lawrence County pastor has been charged with 192 counts of possession of child pornography.

The Rev. Robert D. Schmidtberger, 50, of New Castle, faces a preliminary hearing Thursday after a yearlong investigation by state police. He resigned April 22 as pastor of Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Church in New Castle.

Schmidtberger is one of two area men charged in recent days with possession of child pornography.

Authorities said they seized computers, CD-ROMs and other hardware from his home and found 161 images of child pornography and bestiality on the CD-ROMs and 31 images of child pornography on ZIP drives. Investigators found six e-mails on the CDs that contained attachments of child pornography.

The e-mails were sent from the AmericaOnline screen name "RobthePastor," police said.

Schmidtberger also is charged with three counts of distributing child pornography and three counts of criminal use of a communications facility.

Officials at AmericaOnline discovered the photos in the e-mails and alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators there alerted state police in Butler, and police began investigating Schmidtberger in May 2005.

He had been pastor at Rose Point since November 1994. The church belongs to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America -- a small, conservative denomination known for its belief in the Bible as infallible and its adherence to the orthodox theology of church reformers John Calvin and John Knox.

Meanwhile, a Westmoreland County man is facing 50 counts of sexual abuse of children.

Greg A. Hayes, 42, of Hempfield, was arrested Monday after a technician discovered downloaded pornographic images on a computer brought in for repairs, state police said.

Troopers say they obtained a search warrant to search the computer's hard drive and found hundreds of pictures of children younger than 18 engaging in sex acts with an adult male. Some youngsters appeared to be as young as 3 years old, police said.

Hayes is free on bond to await a preliminary hearing scheduled Thursday.

Jill King Greenwood can be reached at jgreenwood@tribweb.com or 412-321-2160.

 
 

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