Pennsylvanian charged with having child sex abuse material has ‘extremist ideology,’ prosecutors say

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a man from the Pittsburgh area charged with possessing child sexual abuse material also targeted the city’s Jewish community with antisemitic flyers and has previously said he wanted to commit a “high kill-count” attack.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh said Wednesday that it successfully argued against bail for Aidan Harding, 20, during a hearing earlier this month. Harding was indicted on one count of possessing sexual content, in videos and photos, of children under age 12.

His lawyers argued Harding is not a flight risk, saying he has lived in the Pittsburgh area his entire life and works at a family farm. They wrote in a Feb. 12 filing that Harding is accused of having the child sexual abuse material on his phone, not producing such material or trying to meet a child.

Prosecutors allege Harding follows a “racially-motivated violent extremist ideology” and has more than 20 guns. They say Harding had previously been adjudicated delinquent for terroristic threats after posting online that he wanted to commit a “high kill-count” attack.

“To the extent that the government relies on assertions … that the Defendant is adherent to a violent racist ideology or has visited Internet sites associated with racially or ethnically motivated extremism, it may be deplorable but it is not criminal,” wrote lawyers Chris Capozzi and Casey Mullen in a case filing. They said Harding’s guns are lawfully owned. Mullen declined to comment Wednesday.

Magistrate Judge Christopher B. Brown ordered Harding kept in jail until trial, and Butler County Prison’s telephone system indicated he was incarcerated there as of Wednesday afternoon.