Langhorne Man Sentenced In Child Porn Case

A Langhorne man is sentenced to 6 to 23 months in Bucks County prison for a slew of child pornography offenses after pleading guilty to many charges earlier this year.

Walter Frayne, 38, faced numerous child pornography charges dating to Oct. 2010, was sentenced Monday in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas by Judge Jeffrey L. Finley, according to Middletown Township Police Detective Greg Kneiss, who investigated the case.  

The charges against Frayne included child porn possession, criminal use of a communication facility, and dissemination of photos/filming of child sex acts.

Court records indicate that Frayne was arrested on Feb. 1 of this year at his home.

According to a copy of the criminal complaint -- the basis for Frayne’s arrest in Bucks County -- Kneiss began his investigation after receiving correspondence from a detective in Union Township, OH, who said someone in that police department received notice of Ohio residents who were in possession of child pornographic images, pictures that were supposedly provided by an Internet user with an address in Langhorne, Pa.

Police eventually traced the address to Frayne, who court records indicate is married with two young children, ages 7 and 8.

During the course of their investigation, Middletown investigators discovered Frayne’s e-mail account contained about 113 child porn still photos and about nine pornographic videos, according to the affidavit of probable cause supporting Frayne’s arrest. These were allegedly sent to Frayne by another Internet user, one of the people investigated in the Ohio case.   

The images and videos depicted children varying in age from infancy to early teens engaging in various stages of undress and sex acts, including bondage, intercourse, oral sex, rape and beastiality, the criminal complaint states.

Middletown police also discovered additional child porn that had come from other e-mail accounts.

Kneiss and backup officers executed a search warrant on Frayne’s home back in November 2010 and seized various evidence, court records show. At that time, the criminal complaint states, Frayne told detectives that his interest in child pornography actually started back in 2000 or 2001, at which time he began searching the Internet for erotic stories, and eventually became a user of fantasy chat sites.

Frayne eventually opened a separate e-mail account in order to receive child pornography that people had been offering to send him by e-mail, the criminal complaint states.

Frayne soon began swapping the child porn images with others.  

The complaint also states that during a search of Frayne’s computer, detectives discovered that his e-mail addresses were linked to stories that had been authored, allegedly by Frayne, that dealt with incest and sexual exploitation.

The charges Frayne pleaded guilty to are felonies.

Kneiss declined to comment on the six to 23 month prison sentence handed down by the judge.

Court records do not seem to indicate whether or not this is Frayne’s first time in trouble with the law. Media reports, however, have said the reason for the light sentence might be because Frayne has no criminal record.