Mon Valley man jailed on charges he sent porn to a Minnesota boy
CHARLEROI – A Charleroi man was taken into custody Wednesday on charges he used public libraries in the Mon Valley to send a large amount of pornography to a 13-year-old boy in Minnesota.
Charleroi Regional police also accused Joey Leroy Barton, 49, of using the computer at his home at 1006 Meadow Ave. to send some of as many as 1,000 images and videos to the Roseville boy, charging documents show.
The boy’s mother went to Roseville police in November after discovering disturbing messages on her son’s cellphone. That police department reached out to the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to find the appropriate agency to investigate the case.
Charleroi police said Barton and the boy exchanged ages and that Barton also sent the victim a photo of his face.
The many messages discovered on Barton’s Facebook account were “almost exclusively sexual in nature,” police noted in the affidavit.
Some were sent to the boy from the Donora Public Library while others came from John K. Tener Library in Charleroi.
In one message, Barton allegedly told the boy his “mom and dad can put me in jail,” charging documents state.
District Judge Eric Glenn Porter sent Barton to Washington County jail on $500,000 bond. He is charged with having unlawful contact of a sexual nature with a minor, sending obscene and other sexual materials and illegal use of a cellphone.