Rostraver man sentenced up to 2 years in jail after pleading guilty to child pornography charges
A Rostraver man could spend about 17 more months in the Westmoreland Count Prison after pleading guilty Thursday to child pornography charges.
Benjamin D. Powell, 38, was sentenced by Westmoreland Judge Christopher Feliciani to one year, less one day to two years, less two days in return for pleading guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography and a single count of criminal use of a communication facility. One count of child pornography was dismissed by prosecutors.
Powell was given credit for serving time in the county jail since Oct. 8, 2020.
Feliciani ruled that Powell was a Tier I sexual offender, meaning he must register as a sex offender for 15 years. He also must undergo a Megan’s Law assessment for sexual offenders.
As part of his sentencing, Powell must not have unsupervised contact with minors and must not have internet access.
Powell will serve three years of probation.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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