PAINT TWP., Pa. (EYT) – A Clarion man facing child pornography charges waived his preliminary hearing on Tuesday in Central Court.
According to court documents, 40-year-old Travis Wayne Ruschel, of Clarion, was facing 15 counts of third-degree felony Child Pornography, one third-degree felony count of Criminal Use of a Communication Facility, and one second-degree count of Failure to Provide Accurate Information (Megan’s Law registration).
All but one count of third-degree Child Pornography was dismissed.
The case was transferred to Clarion County Court of Common Pleas.
He remains lodged in the Clarion County Jail after failing to post $100,000.00 cash bail.
His case is working its way through the court system.
Ruschel, a Tier 3 sex offender, was convicted in 2005 on Aggravated Indecent Assault charges.
Case details:
According to a criminal complaint filed on December 6 by State Trooper Streyle, members of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations Computer Crimes Task Force served a search warrant at Ruschel’s 505 Maxwell Road apartment on August 25 after they received a “Cyber Tip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in relation to possible child pornography on Ruschel’s cell phone.
Investigators say an administrative subpoena revealed that Ruschel, who is a registered sex offender, was allegedly downloading child pornography with the device.
Ruschel was not at his residence when the police executed the search warrant; however, members of the task force seized several hard drives and tablet devices.
According to the criminal complaint, police located Ruschel at his workplace, and he provided his cell phone to investigators.
“Ruschel also provided a full recorded confession to downloading child pornography on his cell phone,” according to Trooper Streyle.
Ruschel told police that he is registered on Kik, an instant messaging mobile application. As a registered sex offender, Ruschel is required to provide that information to the state police when he updates his sex offender information.
A search warrant was issued to extract data off of Ruschel’s cell phone. The extraction revealed 89 photos of prepubescent child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.
