Man busted for downloading child porn in a fire station

Milton man faces child pornography charges

MILTON — A Milton man accused of having 10 pornographic images of children and nine videos on his laptop computer was arraigned Monday before District Judge William Kear.

Thomas A. Dreistadt, 21, was charged with nine felony counts of sexual abuse of children and nine felony counts of possession of child pornography.

Dreistadt was stationed with the U.S. Coast Guard in California when the charges were pressed. He was detained and held by U.S. marshals before being transported back to Pennsylvania.

According to reports, police were tipped off that Dreistadt was downloading child pornography using the wireless Internet service at the Milton Fire Department.

Police subsequently seized Dreistadt’s laptop and allegedly found images identified as child pornography.

The Milton man reportedly lived at the fire station for a brief time.

Early reports from the arraignment indicate Dreistadt is maintaining innocence and claiming someone else must have used the computer to download the illegal images.

Dreistadt was locked up in lieu of $25,000 bail. His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 2.