Lowellville man pleads guilty to child pornography

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A Lowellville man will be sentenced April 10 after pleading guilty Tuesday in federal court in Cleveland to receiving and distributing child pornography that was transmitted across state lines.

A charge of possessing child pornography against Paul C. Schumacher, 50, of Hop Drive, was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Schumacher was indicted last year on the charges, and according to a U.S. Secret Service agent’s affidavit in support of Schumacher’s arrest, the man admitted that he had downloaded and stored child pornography.

A detective with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, to which the Secret Service agent is assigned, found about 50 computer file folders containing numerous child-pornography images and videos when the detective examined Schumacher’s computer during a search of Schumacher’s home, the affidavit said.

The Secret Service agent verified that four pornographic images showing naked images of young girls were downloaded to the computer address, which the agent traced through a cable-TV company to Schumacher’s residence, the affidavit said.

Some 4,146 unique files at that computer address appeared to be child pornography, the agent said in his affidavit.