Charges filed against Washington County man accused of having hundreds of files of child pornography

NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Police have filed a long list of child pornography charges against a Washington County man.

Court documents say that cyber investigators received a tip on March 8 from Microsoft about child pornography that had been uploaded.

Police say the victim in the photo was between seven to nine years old.

Microsoft gave investigators the IP Address of the account that had uploaded the photo. Police used that information to learn that the uploader used Verizon as their internet provider.

Authorities issued a subpoena to Verizon, signed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and were able to get information on the user based on the IP address.

Police say it belonged to Chris A. McMurdy, 78, of North Strabane Township. They also got the location of his house, telephone numbers, email addresses and various usernames.

A search warrant was issued for McMurdy’s house after police confirmed it belonged to him. When they arrived they interviewed him in his kitchen and seized his phone.

Police say over 200 files of child pornography were found on his devices after they were searched.

McMurdy faces over 16 felony charges and is expected to appear in court in October.

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