The Richmond, Va., man accused of meeting with a 15-year-old South Williamsport girl in late December 2009 and conducting explicit video chats with her in the months before, was found guilty Friday in Lycoming County Court on eight counts of sexual offenses.
Ty M. Levy, 49, was found guilty by Judge Dudley N. Anderson of two counts of sexual abuse of children, four counts of unlawful contact with a minor, one count of obscene and other sexual materials and one count of corruption of minors.
Levy, a former elementary school teacher and soccer coach in his hometown of Henrico County, Va., arranged online Sykpe video chats with the girl and encouraged her to expose herself while he did the same. Investigators said Levy contacted the girl by cellphone and sent links to pornographic websites.
Levy's attorney Kyle Rude argued that no images or videos of the girl were found on his computer and that he only sent the web links. The recipient would have had to take action to open them, Rude said. The attorney also argued that the Skype sessions did not amount to illegal computer depictions.
In his verdict, Anderson wrote that "(Levy) caused a child under the age of 18 years to engage in a prohibited sexual act intending that such act may be depicted on computer and he intentionally viewed a computer depiction depicting a child under the age of 18 years engaging in a prohibited sexual act."
"The court thus believes that "depicted on a computer" means a picture placed on a computer and "computer depiction" means a picture on a computer. The images transmitted through Skype were pictures," Anderson wrote.
The judge also did not agree with Levy's argument about sending the pornographic web links.
"The court believes that sending a "link" to a pornographic website is the equivalent of sending the content of the website, and such conduct constitutes dissemination of explicit sexual materials ... ."
Levy's crimes mean he will undergo evaluation to determine if he is a sexually violent predator. He remains in the Lycoming County Prison.
His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8 in front of Anderson.
