NORRISTOWN, Pa. | The Montgomery County district attorney’s office announced the arrest of a Bucks County police officer on felony charges of possessing child pornography.
Hilltown Township Police Officer Matthew Reiss, 47, was charged in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County with multiple counts of possessing child pornography, said DA Kevin Steele, in a news release.
In April, the Montgomery County Detective Bureau received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the upload of two child sexual abuse images to a Gmail account, the Montgomery County press release stated.
The IP address for the Gmail account was reportedly traced to the defendant’s residence in Upper Hanover Township. In addition to this, officials say the cellphone number associated with the Gmail account was a known phone number of the defendant’s.
Detectives say they served a search warrant to Google for information about the Gmail account.
This past Wednesday, the investigation reported they received 660 images, which allegedly included 10 images of child pornography depicting children under the age of 13. As part of the search warrant, chats were also provided to investigators.
In one chat, the defendant allegedly noted that he works for a local government entity. Reiss is a police officer with the Hilltown Township Police Department in Bucks County, however, the investigation has supposedly found no connection between the child pornography and his employment.
Reiss was arrested and charged with 10 felony counts of possessing child pornography, according to police officials. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Albert J. Augustine, who set bail at $75,000 cash.
The defendant posted bail and was subsequently released. A preliminary hearing was set for 10:30 a.m., June 7, before Magisterial District Judge Maureen Coggins.
The Hilltown Township Police Department and Bucks County District Attorney’s Office assisted with this investigation. Since his arrest, the police department has placed Reiss on administrative leave.
Major Crimes Detectives of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, along with specially trained and sworn detectives from police departments in Montgomery County, routinely work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to protect children from Internet predators by aggressively and proactively investigating Internet crimes that exploit children, officials stated.
Another one of the blue gang from my old SE PA area I moved from. About 15 minutes drive from my old house. Must be something in the air or water that possesses these scumbags, but nothing that something between their eyes couldn’t fix.
Let the people have him
sends a message
we can play the fear game too
Pedophiles should get no break. Public torture is the only way to minimize pedophilia. In the admiralty, they get protected with sometimes serving no time at all with the victims serving a life of misery. But in the common law that wouldn’t happen. The victims would get their justice.