Uniontown man sentenced to prison, lifetime supervision for molesting child in live videos, photos

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — A former Uniontown man was sentenced to nearly 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release for molesting a child in live videos and pictures.

According to the Department of Justice, Zachary Bosh, 39, was sentenced in a federal court to 210 months behind bars and lifetime supervision on his conviction of production of visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On April 12, 2019, an undercover officer entered a public chat group called #parentstoys using an internet-based and free mobile app.

A user by the handle “ascott55055″ initiated a private chat with the officer, sending the officer around seven videos and/or images of a minor, one of which shows the sexual exploitation of the victim. The user was later identified as Bosh.

It was verified that the clips and/or images were live, the Department of Justice said.

Investigators obtained emergency disclosures from the mobile app and the internet service provider, allowing them to identify the place where the sexual exploitation happened. This happened on the same day as the exchange between Bosh and the undercover officer.

Also on that same day, officials searched the home and seized bedsheets that matched the ones visible in the video.

During the sentencing, the judge said he wouldn’t “reduce [the defendant’s] conduct to a descriptive term” – such as egregious or terrible – because it would not be “sufficient” and risked “minimizing” Bosh’s conduct. The court explained that its sentence was “sufficient to fulfill the goals of sentencing” and “no greater than needed.”

According to the Department of Justice, the court also found that the record “strongly suggests” that Bosh engaged in illicit conduct in the “past” and his statements to the undercover officer expressed “desires” to engage in “more physical sexual” conduct in the future. To that end, in imposing lifetime supervision, the court expressed its intent that this would deter Bosh and others from committing similar crimes.

“This defendant will spend the next 17.5 years in prison for preying upon, exploiting and abusing a young girl who was under the defendant’s care for his own sexual gratification,” said Acting United States Attorney Rivetti. “This sentence sends a clear message that predatory crimes, such as child exploitation offenses, will continue to be vigorously prosecuted by this office.”

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