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Thomas Bowes, 39, of Lansdale, became the center of an investigation in October 2023, following a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, according to the criminal complaint obtained by Daily Voice.
** WARNING: The following news story contains disturbing and graphic information that depicts the sexual abuse of small children **
Montgomery County investigators created profiles on the social media app Whisper, and began engaging with Bowes, they said.
In the conversation, Bowes offers to "rescue" the girl from "boring" school and teach her sexual education, police papers show.
"A lengthy, sexually explicit text conversation via the app ensued between the defendant and who he thought was a 13-year-old girl," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele's office writes in a news release.
The "girl" asks for a photo of Bowes. Bowes responds with a photo of a man and woman. The woman's face is covered by a cat emoji, and Bowes said that he was the man in the photo.
An investigation later found that photo had been taken from the social media account of Bowes' son's former teacher, court documents show. The woman did not give Bowes permission to use the photo. Bowes was not the man depicted in the photo, police said.
Bowes and the "girl" continue chatting, and Bowes sends a photo of a penis, which he later admitted was his own.
He goes on to tell the "girl" he bets she "looks amazing with a c— in you," and asks if she'd "jerk him off" if he picked her up from school, according to the complaint.
He later sent a photo of a vagina with semen inside and told the girl it was "a friend" he had ejaculated inside of, and called it a "cream pie."
"[That's] what you're going to look like," said Bowes, before asking the "girl" for a pair of her underwear to keep after they finish having intercourse, the exchange shows.
The Whisper chat ends with Bowes and the "girl" organizing a meetup.
An investigation found that Bowes' Whisper account was created last February, and a search of several IP addresses linked to Bowes, who had been using the internet at his mom's house to chat with the "girl."
Police interviewed Bowes in November 2023, who admitted he was responsible for the conversation with the "girl," but that he did not have any intention of meeting her, documents show.
A search of Bowes' Samsung Galaxy turned up seven videos of child sex abuse material and five photos of the same, police said. One photo showed a girl, approximately 10 to 13 years old, performing oral sex on a man, both naked on a bed, police paperwork shows.
In one video on Bowes' phone, an approximately 5-year-old girl is laying naked with her underdeveloped breasts exposed, and a purple sex toy being used by an individual off-camera on her vagina, according to police papers.
The photos of Bowes' son's former teacher that she'd sent the "girl" were also found on his phone, in addition to ones allegedly of the teacher and her family.
Additional photos of the woman and her daughter that had been altered to make them appear naked were found in Bowes' phone.
He was arrested on Jan. 15 and charged with Possessing Child Pornography, Distributing Child Pornography, Unlawful Contact with a Minor, Criminal Use of a Communication Facility, Identity Theft and other charges.
He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge John Kessler, who set bail at $20,000, 10 percent. The defendant was unable to post bail and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
The original preliminary hearing date before Magisterial District Judge Michael P. Quinn has been continued at the defense request and is in the process of being rescheduled.
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