A Belle Vernon man who admitted to inappropriate contact with a minor was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison for receipt and possession of child pornography following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy imposed a term of 85 months on David Engel, 47, after he waived indictment and pleaded guilty.
U.S. marshals immediately took him into custody to begin his sentence.
Engel used the Kik app to communicate with others interested in child porn. Those conversations led to a search of his house on May 3, 2021, and of a hotel room in the Pocono Mountains two days later, by agents with Homeland Security Investigations.
HSI seized his computer and cellphone and recovered more than 600 images, many depicting the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers. A forensic search of the phone also showed that Engel took screenshots of images containing child sex abuse that he received by email.
Before imposing the sentence, Judge Hardy told Engel that he and other child porn consumers hurt children because they create demand for porn, saying, “Third party deterrence is very necessary in these kinds of cases.”
In addition to the prison term, the judge ordered him to pay $21,000 in restitution to seven victims.
Engel and his lawyer, Sarah Levin, asked for 60 months on several grounds, but prosecutors argued he doesn’t deserve leniency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gal-Or said Engel sought out the child porn, while also describing in graphic detail the sexual abuse of minors he knows.
“Those communications indicate that the defendant has an expressed desire to engage in sexually abusive, exploitative, or predatory conduct against minors,” she said in sentencing papers.
She said documents provided to the court also show that Engel has admitted multiple times to “inappropriate conduct” with a minor he knows.
Gal-Or also rejected Engel’s request for a downward variance, which he raised in part on the basis of his wife’s medical problems and his own mental health issues. She said she sympathizes with his wife, who uses a wheelchair and needs an oxygen tank, but she said many defendants can make the same claim and it doesn’t warrant a departure.
She also said his mental health records indicate that he’s a threat to children because of his sexual interest in them.
Law enforcement first became aware of Engel in April 2021 when HSI received information that a Kik Messenger user named “spideweb44”sent messages in March and April in which the user said they wanted to have sex with children. The authorities received a similar tip from Kik through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Agents tracked the account to Engel and searched his house on May 3, 2021. He was traveling at the time, so agents executed a second warrant at his Poconos hotel room on May 5.
He admitted to the agents during the hotel search that he received child porn and told them they would find images on his phone — which they did.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
