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By KEVIN HOFFMAN khoffman@leader.net
Wednesday, February 02, 2000 Page: 3A
HAZLETON – At his preliminary hearing tomorrow, a 28-year-old man accused
of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy also will be charged with possession
of child pornography, said Police Chief Ed Harry.
Police seized Glenn Polacek’s computer Monday and discovered dozens of
pictures depicting children, some of whom looked to be as young as 6 years
old, engaging in sexual acts, Harry said.
“It looks like stuff that was downloaded from the Internet. We’re going to
have an expert look at the computer and tell us what he was doing with it, if
he was sending (the pictures) back out,” Harry said.
Polacek was arrested last week and charged with involuntary deviate sexual
intercourse, indecent assault and corruption of minors. He remains at the
Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $100,000 bail.
After Polacek was arrested, the 13-year-old boy described child pornography
he had accidentally seen on the computer, police said. His mother then checked
the computer and told police about the pictures.
Police waited Tuesday for an expert to extract the pictures from the hard
drive of Polacek’s computer. Harry said he did not yet know exactly how many
pictures were on the computer, but said there were “dozens.”
In addition to the computer, police also seized notebooks they believe
contain addresses to online sites that feature child pornography, and
videotapes. Police don’t yet know what’s on the videotapes, Harry said.
Police have also learned Polacek may have molested the teenager and his
10-year-old brother when they lived in the Cocoa, Fla. area, Harry said.
Polacek is not related to the boys and stays with the family as a tenant.
The family and Polacek moved to Hazleton in September.
Polacek has admitted to police that he and the 13-year-old sexually
stimulated each other but he denied accusations from the boy that he had
performed other sexual acts on him, police said.
Call Hoffman at 829-7139.