Jailed suspect awaits hearing in child porn case
A Summit Township man faces a hearing next week on child pornography-related charges.
David W. Mengel, 39, admitted to having child pornography on an external hard drive attached to a computer tower at his home when he was arrested July 8 by agents with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, authorities said.
The agents and state police that same day executed a search warrant at the home on Wesley Lane. He is being held in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bond.
The investigation by the attorney general's child predator section began April 1 after it received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to charging documents.
The tip indicated that a video depicting child pornography had been uploaded via the Facebook Messenger application, investigators said.
Following the tip, authorities allegedly learned that Mengel was sharing and viewing videos of suspected child pornography using the instant messaging mobile app Kik Messenger.
The investigation identified the defendant's account for that app as well as his Facebook account and its associated email service. Agents eventually obtained Mengel's address.
On May 13, documents said, investigators conducted surveillance at the mobile home to determine who lived there. Mengel was home when the search warrant was executed last week.
Authorities reviewed the content on an electronic storage drive and found “numerous apparent child pornography media files,” documents said. A computer forensics examiner eventually recovered at least 10 files of suspected child pornography.
Mengel, according to documents, “acknowledged that he has had (a) problem with looking at child pornography since he was (a) teenager.”
Additionally, he allegedly admitted that he knew it was illegal to possess child pornography.
On July 8, District Judge Lewis Stoughton arraigned Mengel on 10 felony charges of possession of child pornography and one felony count each of dissemination of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 21 at Stoughton's office in Chicora. The Butler County public defender's office is representing Mengel. A message left for a public defender was not immediately returned Tuesday.
