Joshua Pethtel

A Jefferson Township man is accused of having 58 images of child pornography on his cell phone between 2018 and this year.

State police said Joshua M. Pethtel, 33, admitted to watching child pornography on the internet, and that he believed it was an “addiction.”

Police on Thursday arrested Pethtel on 58 felony counts of possession of child pornography and a felony charge of possession of an instrument of crime. He is in the Butler County Prison on $10,000 bond.

A ChildLine report of suspected child abuse initiated the investigation in March, police said. During the investigation, police interviewed the defendant May 20 at the barracks.

He acknowledged he used a cell phone to first view adult pornography online, investigators said. He said he turned to also watching child porn.

“Joshua admitted this is the reason he no longer owns a cellular phone,” according to charging documents.

Police said he also acknowledged he had “a problem wanting to watch adult and child pornography,” and that he considered his viewing of child porn was an “addiction.”

District Judge Sue Haggerty subsequently signed a search warrant for police to examine Pethtel's cell phone. The examination, police said, turned up dozens of images of children engaged in sex acts.

His preliminary hearing is set Aug. 26. Online court records did not list an attorney for him.