A registered sex offender caught again with a large collection of child pornography will serve up to 50 years in prison.
Gregory Horn Sr., 57, was on probation for previous convictions of possessing child pornography when detectives discovered last year that he was trading more lewd materials online.
On Monday in Lancaster County Court, Horn pleaded guilty to numerous felonies in exchange for a 23-to-50-year prison sentence.
Assistant District Attorney Janie Swinehart, lead prosecutor, negotiated the plea agreement.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright accepted the terms and ordered sentence.
A Lancaster County detective with the county’s Computer Crimes Task Force discovered the trading of illegal materials in February 2015. East Hempfield police then took over the investigation because the computers involved were based in that township.
A search warrant was executed at a home in the 100 block of Stony Battery Road where Horn was living. Multiple computers and other electronics were seized.
Detectives found more than 1,000 photos displaying children engaged in sex acts.
Horn admitted to police that he began downloading child pornography from the Stony Battery Road home a few years earlier.
Horn’s earliest potential parole date will happen when he is 80. He must register his whereabouts with police, under Megan’s Law, for the rest of his life.
He potentially faced a life sentence had he taken his case to trial, because the latest charges resulted in a third conviction of sex abuse.
East Hempfield police Detective Christopher Chase filed charges.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright