Scoop: What's With 344 King of Prussia Road?

In this economy, it can be pretty difficult to sell a home. This is especially true if a pedophile used to live in it.

Such is the dynamic at 344 King of Prussia Road which, until late November, sat abandoned and in disrepair in the aftermath of the arrest of a former renter on child pornography charges.

According to Patricia Hartman, communications director with the US Attorney's Office, on Jan. 6, 2006 FBI agents and Radnor Township police conducted a raid of the home and arrested Paul J. Brown on charges of possession of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, and transporting and shipping of child pornography. Brown was convicted in December of that year and was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release (and a $3,000 fine).

The images Brown possessed in his home were disturbing, but, according to the sentencing memo Hartman provided Patch, much less disturbing as the fact of his freedom: in June 2004, a full 17 months before his eventual arrest, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at his Radnor residence (it is unclear if this was the 344 King of Prussia Road home or a previous abode) and found Brown in possession of at least 1,325 articles of child pornography—including images of infants and pre-pubescents engaged in sexual acts.

Post-raid, FBI forensics determined that Brown had circulated at least 50 of these images over the Internet to other deviants. One of the recipients was a Georgia man, Steven Wells, who, after his arrest, admitted to police that he regularly raped his daughter.

And the depravity of the crimes is only amplified by their location: when Brown was finally arrested in 2006, he was living 236 feet from Radnor Elementary School.

Patch was unable to ascertain why Brown was able to spend a year and a half free after the 2004 raid and, despite several efforts, we were also unable to contact Dr. David F. Walker, the then-owner of the home Brown was renting at the time of his arrest.

So what's the scoop with the building now?

Walker, a dentist who practiced down the street at Radnor Dental Association until his March retirement, had no interest in commenting on the story, his son told a reporter.

As for the home itself, on Nov. 29 Walker sold it to Lombardi State Realty LLC of Spring Lake, New Jersey for $170,000.

The day prior to the sale, Walker obtained an interior demolition permit from Radnor Township (see in the photo section of this article).