Wife Attempts to Frame Husband with Child Pornography

An Indiana County woman has been charged with putting child pornography on a computer in an unsuccessful effort to frame her estranged husband. Fortunately for the husband, investigators were able to tell that the images had been loaded onto the computer after he had left the residence.

These sort of poor choices and short-sighted, vindictive behaviors on the part of the now-defendant are why she should have retained an experienced family law attorney early on. If she was having problems with her estranged husband, she had a number of tools available to address those issues. An attorney could have helped her access those resources.

Now it looks like she is more in need of an experienced criminal defense attorney. The charges she faces are Felonies and carry the potential for significant jail time. Because possession of child pornography is considered to be “feeding the market” and creating demand, it will not matter that she was not a pedophile herself or that she had not downloaded the images for her own *ahem* use. The mere possession of such image files is enough to get a conviction.

What will likely happen to her?

If this is her first offense, the Sexual Abuse of Children charge is graded as a Felony of the Third Degree, meaning it carries a statutory maximum penalty of up to seven years incarceration and a fine of up to $15,000.

In addition, Sexual Abuse of Children is a 15-year registration offense under the PA Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”). SORNA is an invasive, debilitating, and potentially unconstitutional law that requires covered individuals to register every aspect of their lives with the Pennsylvania State Police. Every type of information is gathered, from home and school addresses all the way through online identities and aliases and vehicles owned or operated by the registrant. If she ins convicted or pleads guilty to this offense, she will be paying for it long after any prison term or probation sentence is served.

Sexual-related offenses are some of the most serious and harshly treated offenses in the criminal justice system. If you or a loved one find yourself charged with or even suspected of such a crime, you owe it to yourselves to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately.