Delaware County Child Predator Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that John C. Dellarocco, Jr., 25, of Holmes, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment, and a lifetime of supervised release, by United States District Judge Petrese B. Tucker for online enticement and manufacturing child pornography. The defendant pled guilty in August 2019.

These charges arise from an investigation into the defendant’s communications with at least eleven minor female children on an Internet-based application on which the defendant persuaded or attempted to persuade the girls to engage in sexual activity and sexually explicit conduct, photograph themselves engaging in that conduct, and then transmit the images to the defendant via the Internet.  In all of these cases, Dellarocco was surreptitiously recording the chats and exposures and saving the videos on flash drives or his cell phone – evidence which was later discovered by investigators.

“Child exploitation is a pervasive problem – made more so by the accessibility of the Internet and digital media – that demands an aggressive response,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain.  “This case is particularly disturbing because of the number of children the defendant was able to target and communicate with on the Internet.  We urge parents and caregivers to monitor what their children do online, and we stand ready with our federal and local partners to identify and prosecute those who would prey upon minor children.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Roberta Benjamin.