Berks man sentenced after pleading guilty to child pornography crime
A Strausstown man was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday after earlier having plead guilty to a child pornography charge.
Bradley M. Coleman, 39, was sentenced in U.S. district court in Philadelphia to 10 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution.
On April 22, Coleman pleaded guilty to one count of access with intent to view child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.
Romero gave this account:
After having been previously convicted in Berks County for possessing child pornography, Coleman used digital currency in July, 2023 to attempt to purchase access to child sexual abuse material on the dark web. Forensic analysis revealed evidence of nearly 900 images of child pornography on Coleman’s electronic devices, including images depicting very young victims.
“After having been convicted and imprisoned for this vile behavior once before, Bradley Coleman again sought out horrific images of young children being sexually abused,” Romero said.
“If consumers of child pornography can’t or won’t stop acquiring it, which only perpetuates the sexual exploitation of child victims, we and our law enforcement partners will gladly step in and stop them.”
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, officials said.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood uses federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims, officials said.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.
In 2017, Coleman was sentenced to five years of probation after admitting that he had hundreds of files of child pornography on his personal computer.
He pleaded guilty in Berks County Court to possession of child pornography following an investigation by county detectives and the federally funded Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
According to authorities at the time:
Investigators went to Coleman’s home on Nov. 20, 2015, and, after he consented to a search, found child pornography files on his computer during a forensic preview.
After a full examination of Coleman’s computer and cellphone, investigators identified 225 digital images and videos of child pornography.
