A Wilmerding man faces serious allegations after being charged with the possession of child pornography, an arrest spurred by a cyber tip from Dropbox. Described by the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, detectives took Anthony Dolessandro, 44, into custody from his home early this morning, with his arraignment set to unfold at the Allegheny County Jail.
The investigation began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip. The alert was triggered after two files of suspected child pornography were uploaded to an account, as detailed in a report by WPXI. Efforts to probe the linked email address led to a search warrant, which purportedly provided the identifying information for Dolessandro.
Detectives then executed a search warrant at Dolessandro’s residence. Several electronic devices were seized during the raid, including a cellphone that, after examination by the FBI's Computer Analysis Response Team, was found to contain 34 images and 48 videos of child pornography. This evidence was further bolstered by various apps on the phone employed in the search and exchange of such illicit materials, as reported by CBS News Pittsburgh.
In an unsettling twist, Dolessandro reportedly admitted to law enforcement officers that he had not always engaged in viewing such material, stating that he once looked down on individuals who indulged in this dark corner of criminality. This revelation adds a layer of personal tragedy to a case already mired in the criminal and the profane, a circumstance mentioned in the criminal complaint released by authorities.
