PITTSTON — A registered sex offender from Duryea was arrested Friday for allegedly possessing child pornography.

According to Luzerne County detectives, Joseph Salavatore Dowd, 40, was arrested on one felony count each of possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and criminal use of communication items.

According to criminal complaint:

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip on Aug. 17, 2016, from Chatstep, regarding a member’s profile using a screen name, joe.Room:ODEAPjim. The tip, which stated the user uploaded one image of a young female engaging in prohibited sex acts, was sent to Delaware County District Attorney’s Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for further review.

Related Video

Delaware County sent it the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office on Sept. 9, 2016.

On Jan. 10,2017, Luzerne County detectives issued an administrative subpoena to Verizon Internet Services via fax for the registered mailing address of the IP address.

Verizon’s response alleged the IP address responded to Patrick Dowd, 153 Cremard Blvd., Duryea, Joseph’s father.

Luzerne County detectives located Joseph at 3:15 p.m. Jan. 31, and he was interviewed by the detectives. Dowd admitted to using the chat site for a few months and creating the chatroom “Joe.” He stated that he had lived with his parents since May 15, 2015, and used Verizon as his service provider.

He told investigators that he would use his cellphone and mother’s laptop to connect to the internet and access Chatstep. Dowd also admitted to downloading, viewing and disseminating images of child pornography since June 2016.

While in a chatroom on Chatstep, Dowd said someone had disseminated an image of child pornography, which he admits to downloading the image and creating a chatroom to share the image with others.

Down told investigators he would save images to an unnamed folder in his cellphone, a Samsung Galaxy Prime Core. At one point, Dowd said he intended on telling law enforcement of the images but when asked if he told law enforcement, he replied “probably not.”

Dowd said child pornography calmed him down but that he had been addicted to adult pornography most of his life.

He admitted to masturbating to images of child pornography, but said he regretted it and felt embarrassed. Dowd told investigators his problem was “killing his family” and admitted he needed help.

Dowd was sent to Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $50,000 cash bail. He is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing 9:30 a.m. Feb. 22 in front of District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz.

Investigators say Dowd is a registered sex offender under Megan’s Law. Court documents indicate Dowd pleaded guilty in 2013 to two misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy and one misdemeanor count of giving a false name to law enforcement.

http://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_BLOTTER.jpg.optimal.jpg

By Melanie Mizenko

mmizenko@timesleader.com

Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko