A Penn-Delco middle school counselor has been arrested on child pornography charges

A Penn-Delco middle school counselor has been arrested on child pornography charges after police say they found images of sexually abused children on his cell phone and laptop.

Kevin Siegel, 45, was held Monday on $100,000 cash bail following an arraignment on the charges. Siegel, who worked at Northley Middle School, has been employed by the Penn-Delco School District for 22 years, according to his LinkedIn page.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said there was no evidence that Siegel used school district devices to access child pornography, “or that any students have been harmed by his criminal behavior.”

The district’s superintendent, George Steinhoff, also said the district was not aware of any students impacted — but told families in a message over the weekend that “the nature of the charges alone are extremely troubling and upsetting.”

Police began investigating Siegel after Yahoo contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Sept. 13, reporting that Siegel had uploaded four images of child sexual abuse material, according to a criminal complaint. The files, which Siegel emailed to himself with his Yahoo account, contained images of girls estimated to be between 7 and 11 years old, according to the complaint.

Police served Siegel with a search warrant at his house in Garnet Valley on Oct. 24. After police told Siegel — whose wife and children were at home — about the investigation into the images reported by Yahoo, he described the incident as “a moment of weakness” and said he’ll “never do it again,” according to the complaint.

An investigator asked Siegel “why after 21 years as a school counselor and being around children that he now has an interest in child sexual abuse material.” Siegel could not answer, according to the complaint.

During the investigation, 13 images of child sexual abuse material were found on Siegel’s cell phone, and four images were found on his laptop. A detective found evidence Siegel had used Torrent file-sharing programs to download images, using particular search terms.

Siegel was charged Friday with 17 counts of possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. Matt Sedacca, a lawyer representing Siegel, declined to comment Monday.

In his message to families over the weekend, Steinhoff said that Siegel was “immediately removed from the workplace” and placed on leave when the district “was first informed of this matter;” he did not say when that was. Steinhoff said Siegel “has had no contact with students since the moment the district was first informed.”

Steinhoff — who said the district was not notified when Siegel was charged — said that “all of Mr. Siegel’s certifications and background checks required for employment at Penn-Delco are and have been current.”

In a statement Monday, Stollsteimer thanked Steinhoff “and his staff for their full cooperation in the investigation” leading to Siegel’s arrest. He said that while there was no evidence the alleged crimes involved students, “we ask members of the public who may have information about any possible inappropriate interactions the defendant may have had with children, to please come forward to law enforcement.”