John J. Briggs - Repeat Kiddie Pervert

A former Upper Saucon Township man will spend 18 to 36 months in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography and related charges in Montgomery County Court, according to the state attorney general's office.

John J. Briggs, 54, who lived at 6746 Walnut Lane at the time of his February 2006 arrest, also was sentenced Wednesday to spend seven years on probation following his release from prison. Briggs was ordered to pay a $35,000 fine, or nearly $100 for each of the 319 child pornographic images police said they found on his computer.

Briggs was arrested in a pedophile sting by the attorney general's Child Predator Unit after he traveled to a Kmart in Abington Township, Montgomery County, to have sex with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl named Jennie that he met in an Internet chat room, police said.

Jennie was actually an undercover officer participating in child-sex sting.

Following his arrest, investigators seized his laptop computer and found the child pornography, police said.

In March 2006, Briggs was arrested for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl, who told police Briggs pinched her buttocks and twice sexually assaulted her between September 2005 and February 2006, police said. The girl told her mother about the alleged assaults the day after Briggs was arrested on the chat room allegations, police said.

Briggs, whose most recent address in court records is listed as Saylorsburg, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of children, criminal attempt to have unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility.

Briggs, following an assessment by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, was found not to be a sexually violent predator, a label that would have required him to register his address with state police for the rest of his life, according to Nils Frederiksen, an attorney general spokesman. As a result of his plea, he will be required to register his home address for 10 years after his release.