Prosecutors also suspect there are live victims in Neafie case
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SHICKSHINNY — A gymnastics coach was charged Thursday on allegations he possessed and shared child sexual abuse materials as Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce believes there may be live victims.
Andrew P. Neafie, 54, of Keller Road, Fairmount Township, was arrested when county Det. Charles Balogh, West Hazleton police Det. Richard Naprava, and state police Cpl. Chris Hill, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Pennsylvania State Police Northeast Computer Crime Unit, executed a search warrant at his residence.
The search warrant was the result of investigating several Cybertips generated from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Cybertips involved several videos and/or images of children involved in sex acts, according to court records.
Neafie was at his residence when the search warrant was served.
During an interview with detectives, Neafie said he has been a gymnastics coach for 34, years focusing on children from 8 to 18-years old.
“Evidence found as a result of the search warrant leads us to believe there may have been some young females that had inappropriate contact with him, whether that rises to the level of criminal activity, right now we’re not certain,” Sanguedolce said.
Neafie initially denied possessing any child sexual abuse materials but admitted he browses the internet for pornographic images, court records say.
Detectives in court records say Neafie described coming across “eNature” while researching a nudist resort in western Pennsylvania and “clicks through” images but claimed it’s tough to guess ages on those depicted in images.
Neafie admitted, court records say, he finds younger “fit” females attractive and would view child sexual abuse images for self gratification.
Detectives allege forensic examinations of electronic devices from Neafie’s residence uncovered more than 1,000 images of child sexual abuse materials including files containing “eNature” watermarks.
“Upon execution of the search warrant, we revealed evidence that gave us the possibility that there maybe live victims of these crimes,” Sanguedolce said Friday. “We’re aware Mr. Neafie was an instructor at a local gymnastic center and also previously worked in Palmyra (Lebanon County), Annapolis, Maryland and Central Kentucky.”
Sanguedolce said his office has reached out to law enforcement in those areas while forensic examinations of electronic devices seized from Neafie’s residence continues.
“If any member of the public has information related to Mr. Neafie or feel they know one of the victims, we ask them to contact Det. Balogh at the district attorney’s office at 570-825-1674,” Sanguedolce said.
Neafie was arraigned by District Judge Matthew C. Christopher on 1,000 counts of child pornography, eight counts of dissemination of film/photo of children engaged in sex acts and two counts of criminal use of communication facility. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $200,000 bail.