Most charges withdrawn against man accused of filming girlfriend in sex acts

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2012 

Most charges were dropped against a 21-year-old Bethlehem man accused of filming his underage girlfriend in sex acts starting when she was 16.

Stephen Mann still faces a child pornography charge, a third-degree felony that carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence. His defense attorney, David Knight, though, doesn’t expect his client will serve jail time.

“These are two nice people that I think will put this behind them,” he said.

Mann was initially charged with six crimes, including photographing/filming a sex act involving a child and unlawful sexual contact with a minor, both second-degree felonies that carry a maximum 10-year jail sentence, if convicted.

At his preliminary hearing Wednesday, before Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone, Mann waived the remaining child pornography charge to Bucks County Court. He remains free on $2,500 unsecured bail, meaning he has to post the money only if he fails to appear in court.

The charges stemmed from an unrelated incident at a Bensalem motel in March, when Mann’s now 17-year-old girlfriend reported to police that she was raped by another man, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The teen told police that her attacker’s contact information was stored in her phone. They found it in the motel room where she said the assault took place. Now Eric Libier, 23, of Quakertown, is charged with five felonies in connection with the alleged assault, including sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

But a forensic search of the phone revealed a second crime, police said.

The phone had six videos of the same girl in a sex act with an adult male, whom police later identified as Mann.

The videos had been created in October 2011, police said, and the girl’s phone also had six still images that depicted the girl in a sex act, according to the affidavit.

Mann told police that he had been dating the girl since she was 15 years old and he was 19, according to the affidavit. Mann also told them that he was the male in the videos, according to court documents.

Mann told police that his girlfriend was 16 when he took the videos and said the two had exchanged other sexually explicit videos, court records show. The girl also confirmed that information, police said.

Knight agreed the case was unusual and could serve as a cautionary tale for anyone under age 18 who owns a cellphone with photo capabilities.

“It is a crime,” he said. “A lot of people are just unaware of it.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181;

email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;

Twitter: @jociavaglia