Carbon man given prison term in child pornography case

A Carbon County man was sentenced on Thursday afternoon to a county prison term on charge of child pornography, which he had previously pleaded guilty.

Sean James Balint, 46, of Lehighton, was sentenced by President Judge Roger N. Nanovic to serve eight to 23 months in the county prison. However, Balint will not be serving any more time as he was given credit for 248 days already served in prison on the charge. In exchange for the plea, the district attorney’s office agreed to drop a charge of disseminating photo/film of child sex acts.

Mahoning Township police filed the charges after they received information from the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., police who was monitoring a website and chat site.

The Washington police informed Mahoning police of child pornography being sent from a site traced to Carbon County and specifically a site that Balint had accessed.

The photos being sent included that of a naked 13-year-old girl and in other photos of children performing sex acts.

Balint told the court, “I’m sorry and accept full responsibility for my actions.” Balint read a multiple page statement into the record.

Nanovic asked Balint, who he said was an educated person, how he could post photos of a young girl naked on a social media site. Balint claimed he had only been on the site for one or two months when police arrested him. He said at first that his marriage was falling apart, but he has since reconciled with his wife and claimed his marriage is “stronger than ever.”

Nanovic did note that an evaluation by the state sexual offenders assessment board determined Balint was not a violent sexual predator.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Gazo, who prosecuted the case, said Balint did cooperate with authorities when confronted.

In addition to the jail term, Balint was ordered to submit to a sexual offenders evaluation, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 without the permission of the probation office, supply a DNA sample, follow all provisions of Megan’s Law, including he must register for the next 15 years as a sexual offender, pay court costs of about $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee.