Ex-Radnor Township board president Ahr ordered jailed until child porn trial

Calling his alleged crimes "unspeakable" and "depraved," a federal judge on Monday ordered ex-Radnor Township Commissioners President Philip Ahr's incarceration until his trial on the child pornography charges that prompted his resignation from elected office last year.

But his lawyer – in his first public statements on Ahr's behalf – insisted that his client had begun to accept responsibility for his crimes and had sought treatment for what he described as a "mental defect."

"He has taken steps to prevent this from ever happening again," said defense lawyer Mark P. Much during a hearing in federal court in Philadelphia. "To engage in this type of behavior is a mental defect. And what does he do? Four days after authorities search his house, he checks himself in for psychosexual treatment."

Prosecutors – and ultimately U.S. Magistrate Judge Marilyn Heffley — were unmoved.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella scoffed at Much's suggestion that the 63 treatment sessions Ahr has attended since his initial arrest would somehow prevent him from committing similar crimes, given the hundreds of images of sexually abused children – some as young as infants – that were found on electronic devices he used at home, at work, and for city business.

"You don't get fixed in five months when you're looking at infants being raped," she said in court Monday. "This is a deep-seated, long-term criminal problem for him."

Heffley agreed, ordering Ahr held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia for what is likely to be the next several months.

"Given the depravity of the charges here, which are unspeakable, I have to rule that there are no adequate conditions [for bail] that will ensure the safety of the community," she said.

The ruling prompted tears from Ahr's wife of more than three decades, who was seated in the front-row gallery along with a small group of friends, including the family's priest.

The ex-commissioner and marketing executive offered no reaction aside from a wink to his family as U.S. Marshals led him out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Heffley's decision came three days after Ahr, 67, turned himself in on five federal counts including distribution, possession, and receipt of child pornography. Ahr was indicted four months after state authorities brought a similar case, in which he had been granted $100,000 bail.

Much said Monday that since then Ahr had complied with every condition of his release, including prohibitions on contact with minors and use of the internet.

Delaware County authorities first found their way to Ahr's Radnor residence in September while pursuing a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a Yahoo Messenger account associated with him had been flagged for trafficking in illicit images of children.

According to court filings, Ahr – who went online by the screen names "DaddyX" or "DaddyXX" — admitted during that initial interview that he had been "sexting" with unknown people online who had sent him images of children that he knew to be illegal.

Rotella on Monday dismissed Ahr's confession as a "minimization of his crimes." From the second his account was shut down by Yahoo, she said, Ahr took steps to delete all transcripts of his online conversations in chat rooms with such names as "pedomoms" and "little boy sex chat."

Ahr also allegedly deleted a Dropbox account that may have contained more incriminating photos minutes after detectives left his house.

Still, investigators managed to recover more than 1,000 pornographic and sadistic images of children from various devices under Ahr's control, including a computer issued by his employer, Progressive Business Publications, and an iPad that Ahr had been issued by Radnor Township.

"He has already shown that he is capable of concealing his activities," Rotella said. "He's certainly capable of living a double life. On the one hand he was serving as a Radnor Township commissioner, on the other this was what he was doing with all of his free time."

Ahr resigned in November from his seat on the township Board of Commissioners, a spot to which he was elected as a Democrat in 2016.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison should he be convicted. No trial date has been scheduled.