Local substitute teacher, assistant coach sentenced to prison for possessing child porn

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — A former substitute teacher and coach for the Blackhawk School District was sentenced to state prison for charges of dissemination of child pornography.

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According to the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office, Joshua Andrews, 31, negotiated a plea deal and will spend five to 10 years in prison. He will also be required to be registered as a sex offender for 25 years.

Andrews, a substitute teacher and coach for the Blackhawk School District, was arrested after Pennsylvania state police received a tip that he had been uploading child porn onto the internet in June 2022. The uploads were traced to his Beaver County home and a local school.

According to the district attorney’s office, Andrews told state police that he had been watching child porn for at least eight years and had been using eight different email addresses to distribute child porn.

Andrews also told police about his roles at Highlands Middle School, as well as his counseling position for adults with autism and with children through his local church.

State police seized Andrews’ devices which contained thousands of images and videos of child porn. Many of the files showed pre-pubescent children having sex with adult men.

Officials also said some of the images showed children whom Andrews knew through church and school. He got the images of children he knew without their knowledge, altered the photos to sexualize them and then uploaded the photos to the internet.

Officials contacted the families of the children to let them know of Andrews’s actions. One person provided a statement at sentencing to address how the experience has impacted her for the rest of her life.

Andrews won’t be eligible for early release credits or early release programs in prison, officials said. He will be required to undergo sexual offender treatment and education while behind bars.

He also won’t be permitted to have any contact with children in general and specifically the children he had contact with before his conviction.

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