Philadelphia Man Sentenced to Nearly 20 Years in Prison for Surreptitiously Taking Explicit Photos, Videos of a Child Through Her Bedroom Window

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that David Bolwell, 59, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 235 months in prison, 15 years of supervised release, and $43,000 in restitution by United States District Judge Gerald J. Pappert for the manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography, arising from Bolwell’s surreptitious photographing and video-recording of a 14-year-old child through her bedroom window for approximately three years, his production of hundreds of sexually explicit images of the child, and his collection of more than 1,200 sexually explicit images and videos of children that he downloaded from the internet.

The defendant was arrested on a criminal complaint and warrant in February of this year, charged by indictment in March, and pleaded guilty in May.

As detailed in court filings, on February 3, 2025, the 14-year-old victim reported that she was walking home from school when an unknown man approached her from behind, called her by name, and gave her a handwritten letter, whispering that she should “open it in private.” The child did not open the letter and instead turned it over to her mother, who contacted the Philadelphia Police Department after reading the sexually explicit contents.

Subsequent investigation by Philadelphia police located video footage confirming the identification of the defendant, and search warrants led to the seizure and search of his cell phone.

An FBI forensic review found more than 3,800 images of the child victim, over 400 of which were found to constitute child pornography; at least 300 additional images of minor girls, including two of the victim’s friends, which appear to have been taken from online social media accounts; and more than 1,200 additional images of child pornography taken from the internet, depicting mainly prepubescent children being sexually abused by adult men.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department and the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.

Note: the posting of this press release was delayed, due to the federal government shutdown from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.