A Coatesville man charged earlier this year for allegedly sharing 31 image and video files of child pornography over the KIK social media application has waived a preliminary hearing.
Jeremy Broderick, 34, of the 300 block of Walnut Street, was originally charged with four counts of disseminating child pornography, 50 counts of possessing child pornography and 50 counts of criminal use of a communication facility. Most of those have been withdrawn, however, and Broderick now faces one count of each charge, according to online court records.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report from KIK in November 2020 that user “jayyd008” had shared 31 images or videos of suspected child pornography, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Delaware County Detective Sgt. Ken Bellis, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Bellis reviewed the images and videos, and found that many included children under approximately 10 years old being sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. One involved a child aged approximately 3 to 5 years old, the affidavit says.
KIK also reported in December 2020 that a user named “miket09208_y52” had shared similar images and videos through private chats or in a messaging group from Dec. 18 through Dec. 23, the affidavit says. An associated email address for that user was identified as “[email protected],” according to the affidavit.
KIK again reported a user identified as “jayb40491” sharing 28 images of child pornography in January. These included children under the age of 12 being forced to perform sexual acts, including one young enough to be wearing a diaper, the affidavit says.
KIK records indicated the three accounts were created using the same model of Samsung phone, the affidavit says, and the company provided investigators with numerous unique Internet Protocol addresses used by the offending users.
One IP address used to access all three accounts was located at an Upper Chichester address associated with Broderick, according to the affidavit. A person living at that address in February 2021 told police Broderick had recently moved out, the affidavit says.
KIK meanwhile reported a fourth user identified as “b.green42599” with an associated email address of “[email protected]” had uploaded another 21 video and image files of suspected child pornography using the same model Samsung phone, the affidavit says.
Broderick was arrested in June for violating a protection from abuse order and was committed to the county jail in Concord after failing to post bail. Investigators obtained a search warrant for a Samsung phone and LG phone Broderick had on him at the time of his arrest.
The Samsung phone was the same model as that reported by KIK, according to the affidavit, but investigators were unable to access it. The LG phone, however, was found to contain more than 40 unique videos and more than 300 images of child pornography, the affidavit says. Some of those videos were visually similar to the ones reported by KIK, according to the affidavit.
Broderick remains in custody at the county jail pending 10% of $200,000 bail. He is scheduled for formal arraignment at the county courthouse in Media on May 11.
