Convicted sex offender accused of raping a child while on probation in Horsham

Brian Groo, 24, is accused of raping a 10-month-old boy.

The Kevin R. Steele, Montgomery County District Attorney today announced the arrest of Brian Groo, 24, of Horshamwho was charged with multiple crimes, including rape of a child, as well as charges related to the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (child pornography).

Steele said that on the morning of October 30 Montgomery County Detectives received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)regarding two videos containing ‘apparent child sexual abuse material, including a video of sexual abuse of a young boy

was uploaded and shared via the online messaging platform Kik.”

According to the criminal complaint, the cyber tip began on September 12, 2024 at 2:24 PM and continued through October 7, 2024 at approximately 3:43 PM. During this period, police said Groo sent “seven files containing suspected images or videos of child exploitation material” from his home IP address.

According to the DA’s press release, the cyber tip indicated that “the boy’s video appeared to be newly produced and/or home-made content,” which concerned authorities because it likely meant a child could be subjected to sustained or additional sexual acts. to attack.

The investigation by NCMEC, County Detectives, and Homeland Security traced the username “Zenshadowsol” who shared the videos to other online accounts and then traced an IP address to the defendant’s residence on Maple Avenue in Horsham Township. Also mentioned in the cyber tip, one of the comments Groo made using his account Redditcommented “dm me I’m in Horsham” so they could narrow down the search, according to reports. The post was also titled ‘M4F in Horsham area #pa’, police said.

Police said they had a Facebook account for Groo, who stated that he was present Abington High School and resides in Willow Grove.

This was not Groo’s first brush with the law. In November 2019, Groo was charged with two crimes, including the distribution of photographs or films of sexual acts with children and the criminal use of a communications facility.

North Penn Now discussed the incidents here. Check out that additional coverage here:

At that time, Groo was required to register as a Level II sex offender for 25 years and undergo both a psychosexual evaluation and a sexually violent predator assessment, according to court records. In addition, Groo had to forfeit his mobile phone and is not allowed to use the internet unsupervised or come into contact with minors without supervision.

In 2019, a total of 165 other charges of distribution of child pornography and criminal use of a communication device – along with dozens of charges of possession of child pornography – were dropped in exchange for the plea.

As a result of the investigation at the time, Groo was arrested on November 22, 2019 and charged with 100 felony counts of possession of child pornography, 65 felony counts of distributing child pornography, and two misdemeanor counts of criminal use of a communications facility.

Groo was sentenced in April 2021 to six to 23 months in prison, followed by five years of probation. Court records show that on March 20, 2023, he received an additional three to 18 months in prison for violating his probation.

On Oct. 30, detectives served a search warrant at the suspect’s residence and found a hidden cell phone belonging to Groo, Steele said in the release, which showed the Kik application installed on the phone and the email address associated with the uploads in the cyber tip. . It was determined that the video involving the boy was a 10-month-old baby that the defendant had access to, Steele said.

Groo was arrested and charged with eleven crimes: rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of children, photo/film/image on computer sex law – child , distribution of photo/film depicting child sex acts, two counts of child pornography, corruption of minors, criminal use of a means of communication and one misdemeanor count of possession of the instrument of a crime.

He was arraigned on Oct. 31 before Magisterial District Judge Karen Eisner Zucker, who set bail at $2,000,077 cash. Groo was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 14 at 11:45 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Todd Stephens.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant Chief of Trials Lauren Marvel.

All suspects and accused persons are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.