PHILADELPHIA, PA — A North Penn School District elementary school teacher faces a federal child pornography charge after prosecutors alleged he used a messaging app to entice two 8-year-old girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct for visual depictions.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Eric Sanville, 39, of Norwood, was arrested Thursday and charged by criminal complaint with manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography.
The criminal complaint alleges Sanville used a messaging application to entice the two children to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of the alleged acts. Federal prosecutors identified both alleged victims as 8-year-old girls but provided no additional identifying information.
Sanville made his initial appearance Thursday in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth L. Toplin, according to prosecutors. He was ordered detained in federal custody pending indictment and trial.
If convicted, Sanville faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum possible sentence of 30 years, according to federal prosecutors.
The FBI Philadelphia’s Newtown Square Resident Agency investigated the case with assistance from the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly Harrell and Angela Monaco are prosecuting the case.
All suspects, arrestees, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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