S. Py. man faces 300 child porn counts
Dec. 13—SOUTH PYMATUNING TOWNSHIP — A local man is facing child pornography charges after police reported finding hundreds of indecent photos and videos involving children.
Ryan Heath Marinoff, 46, Valley View Road, South Pymatuning Township, is facing 14 counts of disseminating photos and films of child sex acts, 300 counts of child pornography, and a charge of criminal use of a communication facility, according to the criminal complaint.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to court documents.
The criminal complaint states that investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police's Northwest Computer Crime Task Force received a tip from Internet Crimes Against Children Jan. 10, 2022. The tip was provided to Internet Crimes Against Children, or ICAC, by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tip reported that someone used Kik Messenger to upload child pornography. Kik Messenger provided a username and email address for the suspect, later identified as Marinoff, the complaint states.
Police reviewed the file uploaded to Kik Messenger and determined the video depicted child pornography.
Investigators filed a subpoena with the suspect's internet provider, and police obtained Marinoff's address.
Officials from the Northwest Computer Crime Task Force, Pennsylvania State Police and the South Pymatuning Police Department served a search warrant Feb. 18, 2022, at Marinoff's address.
Marinoff was interviewed by investigators at the residence, where he gave police his email addresses and his social media account information, the complaint states.
Marinoff also told police a few websites he used to view pornography and admitted to visiting the dark web on his desktop computer. Police said Marinoff denied uploading child pornography but admitted to viewing it in the past.
Marinoff admitted to police he traded adult pornography via Kik, as well as connecting his cell phone to his computer but denied purposefully transferring child pornography, and that if he did, it wouldn't be there any more due to a cleaner app he installed.
Marinoff also said he reformatted his computer a few months prior.
When asked about the email address and username listed in the ICAC tip, Marinoff told police he used the email address for online gaming while the username was the only username connected to child pornography, and that he no longer used that account.
Marinoff told police he uses a random name generator and denied there would be any other platforms that would report he viewed or uploaded child pornography. He also told police the only device he used to view child pornography was his phone, the complaint states.
Police seized multiple devices during the search.
Police determined the state Attorney General's Office was also investigating Marinoff on a separate tip involving Kik Messenger, and AG officials forwarded their information to police.
Investigators reviewed the material and found that 12 files uploaded to Kik Messenger were images and videos of child pornography. Information from the Attorney General's Office's report connected the tip with Marinoff, the complaint states.
After forensic examination, investigators said they found more than 450 images and videos of child pornography, and that 300 of those images and videos depicted indecent contact with children. Some videos involved infant and toddler children, the complaint states.
The complaint also notes that Marinoff was previously on Megan's Law as a registered sex offender but Marinoff's duty to register expired in 2015.
NOTE: All defendants should be regarded as innocent until proven or adjudicated guilty in court.
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