A Pennsburg resident and former Upper Perkiomen School District custodian faces child pornography charges in Red Hill. John E. Soffa, 64, of West Third Street, is accused of possessing child pornography following an incident at a community wrestling tournament last winter at the high school, located at 2 Walt Road in Pennsburg.

            The state police filed one felony count each of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility against Soffa on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Administrators removed him from the school and placed him on a leave of absence soon after the Dec. 7, 2024 incident, according to information provided by district spokesperson Alexis Jenofsky. In September, the school board voted to terminate Soffa.

            District administrators are unaware of any connection between the charges the former employee is facing and district students, according to a text message received Tuesday afternoon from Jenofsky. It states that   "the safety and security of every child remain our highest priority."

On Dec. 7, 2024, a trooper was dispatched to the high school for the complaint of a janitor taking pictures of a female wrestler during a sporting event. The trooper, watching Soffa scroll through the photographs, claims to have noticed nude sexual images intermingled with photographs of what appeared to be children.

            The law enforcement officer allegedly observed images of minors with their chests exposed and minors fully nude, according to the police criminal complaint filed in the Red Hill court of District Judge Maureen Coggins.

            It states that during an interview at the Skippack Station, Soffa told a trooper he saves pornography on his phone, and that he has been collecting photographs for approximately one year. He admitted to collecting images of children in swimsuits, and he believes the children may be as young as five years old.

            In April, another trooper who reviewed the original body footage claimed to have observed Soffa scrolling through the pictures on his phone, some of which he believed to be adult pornography and non-pornographic pictures of students and possibly pictures of child sexual abuse material that included a young girl exposing her developing breasts. The man appeared to be deleting images as he scrolled, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

            An examination of the phone, through a search warrant, identified 2,097 pictures, several of which were deleted by Soffa on Dec. 7, 2024. The search identified one image categorized as child sexual abuse material, according to the legal document.

            Conshohocken District Judge Jodi L. Griffis set bail in the case at $50,000 unsecured following a Nov. 5 preliminary arraignment. A preliminary hearing, before Coggins, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 17.