South Whitehall man faces up to 471 years in prison after 3,000 child sex abuse files found on devices
SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — A South Whitehall Township man is facing 51 felony charges after investigators say they found more than 3,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material on his electronic devices, including depictions of victims as young as infants, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Jared David Hudak, 42, of the 1400 block of North 22nd Street, is charged with 25 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, 13 counts of dissemination of photos or film depicting child sex acts and 13 counts of criminal use of a communication facility. If convicted of all charges, Hudak faces a possible sentence of 235½ to 471 years in state prison.
The case stems from an undercover investigation by Pennsylvania State Police into the online sharing of child sexual abuse material through BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.
Between Oct. 30 and Dec. 9, 2025, Cpl. Anthony Reppert of the state police Computer Crime Unit identified a device at IP address 216.164.255.62 that was configured to share, or “seed,” files containing child sexual abuse material on the network, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
On 13 separate occasions during that period, Reppert said he connected directly to the device and downloaded contraband files depicting the sexual abuse of children ranging in age from approximately 3 to 12 years old.
An administrative subpoena served on RCN Telecom Services traced the IP address to a subscriber at Hudak’s address on North 22nd Street, according to court documents.
On Dec. 9, members of the state police Computer Crime Unit, South Whitehall Township Police and Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at the residence, which had been authorized by Magisterial District Judge Jacob Hammond. Hudak was the only person inside the home at the time, the affidavit states.
During the search, Hudak identified his cell phone as a Samsung FE in a blue case and told investigators it had no passcode. He acknowledged knowing how to use torrents and the tTorrent application to download files, according to the affidavit.
Investigators seized 11 electronic devices, including two Samsung cell phones and a 32GB microSD card, and sent them to the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime lab for forensic analysis.
The examination, completed Feb. 9, found 3,056 image files depicting apparent child sexual abuse material across the devices, with 2,391 files located on a Samsung S24 phone and 590 on a Samsung S10, according to the affidavit.
The Samsung S24 contained artifacts linking it to Hudak, including a Google Play Store account registered to his email address, stored passwords, social media accounts, a resume and a copy of his Pennsylvania driver’s license, the affidavit states.
Investigators also found the tTorrent application had been installed on the device in September 2025 using the same Google account. A review of the phone’s video player database showed that among the 1,200 most recently played files, a majority had file names indicative of child sexual abuse material, according to the affidavit.
On Feb. 5, hash values from the seized files were submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and 148 of the image files matched those of children previously identified by law enforcement in other investigations.
Hudak was arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Derek A. Kirsopp and was released on $10,000 bail. The complaint was filed by Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Moyer.
District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Pennsylvania State Police Troop M announced the arrest jointly.
Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office at 610-782-3100 or the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Unit.
