This article was originally published on GoErie.com  by Madeleine O’Neill on November 28, 2017 

The defendant in a child pornography case is claiming his lack of technological savvy led him to unintentionally “like” an Instagram photo collage that included images of one of the two girls he is accused of secretly videotaping in a bathroom at a Millcreek Township residence more than two years ago.

The defendant, 47-year-old Scott A. Anthony, made the claim in response to a government motion asking that his $10,000 unsecured bond be revoked in the case because of the “like.”

The request, and the defense’s response on Monday, are the most recent developments in the case. Anthony was indicted in September 2015 on charges that he secretly videotaped the two minor teenage girls in a bathroom at their home in Millcreek, including before and after they showered.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold asked on Nov. 17 that U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone revoke Anthony’s bond because Anthony had “liked” the photo collage, which was posted by the girls’ mother on Instagram in October. Anthony had been told repeatedly not to have contact with the victims and their family, Trabold wrote in the motion.

In Anthony’s response to the motion, his lawyer, Leonard Ambrose, wrote that Anthony had unintentionally “liked” the photo and did not realize he had done so until the issue was raised in the government’s motion to revoke his bond.

Anthony had created his own Instagram account in order to monitor another relative’s postings on the app, Ambrose wrote.

“What is more likely; that Scott intentionally sought out to sabotage his civil liberties, or rather that he’s a technologically deficient middle-aged man that made a mistake?” Ambrose wrote.

This is not the first time Anthony has been accused of improperly contacting the victims’ family members.

In December 2016, Trabold wrote in his motion, Anthony telephoned another relative of the girls and “confessed his involvement in the crimes.” In September 2016, Trabold wrote, Anthony showed up at the workplace of another relative.

Cercone in December 2016 denied Trabold’s request to revoke Anthony’s bond based on those incidents. The judge has not yet ruled on the new request to revoke Anthony’s bond.

The government alleges that Anthony produced or attempted to produce sexually explicit images of the younger girl between March 2012 and May 2015, when she was younger than 18. He is also accused of producing or attempting to produce sexually explicit images of the older girl between March 2012 and July 2014, when she was also younger than 18. Anthony is not accused of disseminating the videos.

A search warrant filed in the case indicated that the investigation began when a woman found a video camera hidden in the bathroom. Anthony had instructed the two girls to use the bathroom, the government said.

He faces eight counts of producing videos that depict sexual exploitation of a minor, which each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

The defense is disputing whether the videos are illegal under the definition of “sexually explicit conduct” in federal child pornography laws, and has argued that the case should instead be prosecuted in state court. Cercone has yet to rule on that request.

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The criminal defense attorneys at Sebald Hackwelder Orton represent clients charged with child pornography in state and federal court. Our offices are located in Erie, PA, but we have represented clients across the state on these serious charges.