Ex-church Volunteer Faces 20-year Max in Porn Case

The Observer-Reporter
December 4, 2014

http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20141202/NEWS04/141209887#.VIGkafl_uSp

A former Western Pennsylvania youth pastor faces up to 20 years in prison now that federal authorities have taken over the case, charging him with possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, some with adults performing sex acts with infants.

Andrew Patterson, 45, of Monroeville, was arrested in October after Allegheny County prosecutors said they traced child pornography being shared on the Internet to his computer.

Officials with the Living Waters Family Worship Center in Irwin said Patterson resigned his volunteer youth counselor position hours before his arrest.

Patterson, his wife and daughter began attending the small nondenominational church about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh in the summer. By September, Patterson had persuaded the husband-wife pastors of the church to let him start a youth ministry, which met weekly about five times before his arrest, according to Sylvia Tryon, one of the pastors.

Patterson was never alone with church children, and other adults were present for the youth gatherings, Tryon said.

Court papers indicate Patterson refused to speak with authorities about the underlying state charges, which will be dismissed now that a federal grand jury indicted Patterson last month. He’s charged with distributing material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, receiving it and possessing it. The distribution charge carries a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence upon conviction, with a maximum of 20 years.

According to the indictment, an undercover detective in another county first traced pornography to Patterson’s computer June 15. He’s also charged with receiving some images Sept. 8 and with possessing more than 1,000 images and videos when he was arrested Oct. 16.

Some of the images depict children under 12 – which raised the maximum sentence on that charge from 10 to 20 years in prison – including at least one image of an adult male and an infant, court papers show.

Patterson didn’t speak at Tuesday’s brief initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maureen Kelly, and the federal public defender’s office representing him has a standing policy of not commenting on charges. Kelly ordered Patterson, who has been jailed since his arrest on the state charges, to return for an arraignment Friday, at which he’s expected to plead not guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar told the magistrate that prosecutors will seek to keep Patterson jailed until trial.

For now, Patterson remains jailed because he faces unrelated state charges, along with his wife, of endangering the welfare of his 14-year-old daughter. Monroeville police filed those charges because the Patterson home was allegedly littered with feces and urine from 10 Pomeranian dogs that have since been seized by authorities.

Patterson’s wife, Tina Marie, 41, had told authorities she bred the dogs as a hobby.