NORRISTOWN — An Abington Township man potentially faces prison time after he admitted to using a social media messaging app to exchange child pornography with a Gilbertsville man.
Daniel Gallagher, 44, of the 1800 block of Ambler Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of possessing child pornography, distributing child pornography and conspiracy in connection with incidents that occurred between 2023 and 2024,
Judge Wendy G. Rothstein deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Gallagher, who will undergo a psychosexual evaluation.
Gallagher, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 2 to 4 years in prison on the charges.
Gallagher also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions while on parole or probation.
Gallagher also faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police to comply with the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
With the charges, authorities alleged Gallagher used the social media messaging app Discord to communicate with Keith A. Curtis, 64, of the unit block of Jamie Circle in the Gilbertsville section of Douglass (Mont.) Township, and to share child pornographic material.
Curtis previously pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography and conspiracy and, under a plea agreement,t will be sentenced later this year to 8 to 16 years in prison.
However, before Curtis’ sentence can formally be imposed, he also must undergo an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.
Curtis remains in the county jail without bail while awaiting his formal sentencing hearing.
An investigation involving the two men began in January 2024 when county detectives received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an image depicting a female child between the ages of 1 and 3 engaged in a sexual act with an adult male that was uploaded to a chat room on Discord, an instant messaging social media platform, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Michael Henricks.
The internet address of the user of the app was traced to Curtis.
County detectives and Douglass (Mont.) Township police went to Curtis’ residence on Feb. 8, 2024, with a search warrant and seized his cellphone, which contained the Discord application, court documents indicate.
Detectives also seized a laptop computer belonging to Curtis and a forensic analysis of the device uncovered 11,417 image or video files “depicting children being sexually abused or posed naked.”
When detectives conducted a forensic review of Curtis’ cellphone they found child sexual abuse materials that were sent to Curtis by Gallagher, another Discord user, including images depicting underage girls in various stages of undress or sexual poses, according to the criminal complaint.
Court documents indicate that Gallagher sent images to Curtis that depicted female children between the ages of 3 and 5 and they engaged in sexually related conversations about the images. Detectives alleged the images and the conversations were exchanged for “sexual gratification purposes.”
A charge of criminal use of a communication facility is slated to be dismissed against Gallagher at the time of sentencing.
Assistant District Attorney Anne O’Connell handled the case. Defense lawyer Robert L. Adshead represented Gallagher during the court proceedings.
