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While at work in Loyalsock Township one morning in early July, Todd Victor Getz wanted to show a fellow-employee a picture on his cellphone of a tree that had fallen on a recreational vehicle, according to court records. So the 55-year-old man whipped out his cellphone and opened the gallery application where his photos were stored. Suddenly, a co-worker saw a photo of a naked underage girl that appeared on Getz's phone, state police alleged.
"Getz appeared to be nervous and made a verbal remark of disgust when he realized the picture was present on the phone. He immediately swept away the photo and went to the picture of the tree and recreational vehicle," investigators were told.
Within hours, the co-worker went to police and investigators were soon questioning Getz, of 2414 8th Street Drive, Watsontown, about the incident.
"He admitted to having five to 20 sexually nude images of minor children" on his phone, the affidavit stated. "He related that he took screenshots of the images from an online browser," police said. A search was obtained for Getz's phone, which was seized immediately, the affidavit stated.
On the phone, investigators with the state police Computer Crime Unit found not five to 20 images, but more than 600 media images "categorized as child sexual abuse material; 20 of the images depicted minors being sexually assaulted by adult males," court documents stated. Getz has been arraigned before District Judge Gary Whiteman on 629 felony charges of possession of child pornography (a subsection of sexual abuse of children) and two counts of tampering with evidence. He is free on $20,000 bail and has since waived his preliminary hearing.