LANCASTER, Pa. — A 36-year-old Lancaster man is facing multiple felonies, including rape of a child, after an investigation by Lancaster Police acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
John F. Henry, of the 400 block of Pearl St., is accused of sexually abusing a child of less than 5 years of age, police say. He was charged after police began investigating him for uploading child pornography to a Google account, according to police.
Acting on a referral from the NCMEC, members of the Lancaster Police Special Investigations Unit traced an IP address to a Comcast cable account belonging to Henry, prosecutors say.
Investigators executed a search warrant on Henry's home and seized a number of items, including his phone. A forensic examination of the phone's data yielded a large quantity of videos and images depicting children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts or simulations of such acts, according to police.
During the course of the investigation, police discovered that two of the recordings on Henry's phone depicted a child of less than 5 years of age, police say.
Henry allegedly admitted to sexually abusing the child on numerous occasions in an interview with investigators, according to police.
In addition to rape of a child less than 13 years of age, Henry is charged with sexual assault, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent exposure, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors, sexual abuse of children, dissemination of child pornography, sexual abuse of children (child pornography), and criminal use of a communication facility.
He was processed on the criminal complaint and held for arraignment. Henry was committed to Lancaster County Prison after bail was denied.
