Trial begins for Dallas Township man accused of possessing child sexual abuse materials

May 22—WILKES-BARRE — Pictures and videos of child sexual abuse materials allegedly recovered from electronic storage devices inside the Dallas Township home of Jack P. Covert belonged to someone else, his attorney told a Luzerne County jury Wednesday.

A prosecutor explained otherwise, telling the jury the 65-year-old Covert "knowingly" downloaded, saved and possessed the illegal materials.

Covert's jury trial before Judge David W. Lupas began on six counts of child pornography and a single count of criminal use of communication facility.

Dallas Township police Detective Robert Odgers said he, along with Luzerne County Sergeant Detective Charles Balogh and members of the township police department served a search warrant at Covert's residence on Second Street on Feb. 17, 2021.

Odgers said the investigation was centered on child sexual abuse materials.

Assistant District Attorney Carly Levandoski told the jury during her opening statement that 19 electronic devices, including computer towers and laptops, were seized from Covert's residence.

Those electronic devices, Levandoski explained, were forensically analyzed at the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Lab.

Levandoski said the crime lab recovered four images of child sexual abuse materials.

During the analysis of the electronic devices, Odgers said Covert's username "Jay" was linked to the sexual abuse materials.

Covert's attorney, Ellen Granahan, told the jury during her opening statement that other people were residing inside the residence.

"The government wants you to believe," Granahan told the jury, "just because the computers were in his house, the images are his. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these images were his...they must prove that he possessed them. There were numerous people in that house; he wasn't the only person to live there."

"I have no doubt on these devices that the defendant knowingly and willingly possessed child sexual abuse materials," Levandoski told the jury.

A one-day trial on the child sexual abuse materials is expected.

What the jury was not told Wednesday was Covert's conviction in a previous trial on child sexual assault offenses and his no-contest plea to three other child sexual assault cases.

In a related case, Covert is scheduled for another trial in June on child sex assault charges involving a fifth child.