Child-pornography charges waived

WRIGHT TWP. – A former employee at a glass factory charged with breaking into the company and downloading child pornography on a computer waived his right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Ronald Swank on Wednesday.

Michael A. Halderman, 38, last known address as Catawissa and formerly of Butler Township, waived 242 counts of possession of child pornography and a single count of burglary to Luzerne County court.

Prosecutors withdrew charges of criminal trespass, unlawful use of a computer, disruption of service, theft, access-device fraud and criminal use of communication against Halderman.

Wright Township police and Luzerne County detectives charged Halderman with using a key card to enter Cardinal Glass in the Crestwood Industrial Park in the middle of the night on July 20. The company terminated Halderman in January.

Once he was inside, investigators said, a company employee caught Halderman using a computer to download child pornography onto a flash drive, according to the criminal complaint.

Halderman told investigators, the criminal complaint says, that he views pornography whenever he gets stressed. Before he was caught inside Cardinal Glass, Halderman said, he had a fight with his girlfriend and went for a drive, arriving at the company on Elmwood Avenue, the criminal complaint says.

The investigation in Luzerne County led to additional charges against Halderman in November, when more than 400 images of child pornography were allegedly found on his computers when he lived in Catawissa. .

Halderman is facing more than 1,400 counts of child pornography in Columbia County Court. Halderman remains jailed at the Columbia County Prison for lack of $10,000 bail.

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