A Falls Township man obsessed with a dead child actress and a nine year old local girl originally charged with unlawful contact with a minor last year had a charge dropped and a new one added just before waiving his right to a preliminary hearing earlier this month.

Stephen Kobren, 62, of the Fairless Hills section in Falls Township is now charged with felony possession of child pornography. The apartment complex maintenance man was originally arrested and jailed June of 2022 on one count of unlawful contact with a minor, a sexual offense of the third degree.

The new possession of child pornography charge was added prior to his August 15th preliminary hearing in front of District Judge Jan Vislosky.

The more than one year delay for Kobren to appear for a preliminary hearing was, according to public safety sources, to assess his competency to stand for the hearing and a later trial. Court records show Bucks County prosecutors requested the competency evaluation soon after his June arrest last year.

Falls Township Police, cast a wide investigative net to see if there were any other minors Kobren obsessed over and came into contact with prior within the last year. which included pictures of the maintenance man’s truck. 

Investigators never confirmed, or denied, receiving any other complaints or tips regarding Kobren’s activities when asked in recent months.

According to police, the investigation into the Fairless Hills man was jump started in 2022 when two anonymous tips were sent last summer to police via Crimewatch. The tips said that Kobren, of the Lakeview Terrace Apartments, was in possession of child pornography.

Detective Steve Reeves began looking into Kobren, who was a maintenance man at the Apartment complex for about 12 years and has lived there for 20, police said in court papers. Kobren was located and spoke with investigators.

He admitted he has an attraction to deceased child actress Heather O’Rourke, police said. She died at the age of 12 from a congenital disorder in 1988.

Investigators said that during their conversation with Kobren, he admitted that he rarely viewed child pornography. He did admit to police that he accidentally visited child pornography sites on his digital devices while looking for or at adult pornographic images, according to the criminal complaint.

Police also noted,in an affidavit of probable cause, that Kobren visits porn websites to look at graphic media depicting women defecating.

Kobren took investigators to his apartment where he showed police images of O’Rourke, who starred in the movie “Poltergeist” on the walls of his apartment, police wrote in court records.

As Kobren directed investigators into his bedroom, he smiled, according to police, and pointed to the ceiling, where “several hundred photographs of mostly females defecating, were. ”

There were also photos of O’Rourke, adults having sex, and of nude under age of 12 girls, the criminal complaint alleged.

“You can see what I like,”  Kobern said, describing his obsession which he described with orgasmic pride, court records show.

He admitted to being in possession of 15 to 20 books that depict children in different stages of development, including images of naked children, police said, that did not appear to have any educational or medical purpose.

Kobren voluntarily went to the Falls Township Police Headquarters to continue the interview. He shared with police his fixation on a minor living in the area of the Lakeview Terrace  Apartment complex.

He told police the girl’s name, her activities, and on what street she lives.  He also admitted to having mastabatory fantasies involving her.

Kobren said the girl looked like O’Rourke and called her a ‘reincarnation’ of the now dead actress.

The child was interviewed by police and recalled Kobren staring at her while she played with the family pet dog.

Kobren also said the girl was trying to impress and tease him at times, police said.

Authorities said they executed a search warrant over the course of three days at Kobren’s apartment  recovering children’s underwear, bathing suits, and diapers he obtained through means police could not determine.

In an effort to ensure Kobren did not harm any minors in the area, Falls Police released images of the truck he was known to drive.  Authorities would not confirm or deny if they interviewed any other potential victims in recent communications.

Kobren has a past guilty plea for indecent exposure in Falls Township. The incident happened in July 1999, according to court records and was graded a misdemeanor offense.

He is scheduled to appear for a pre-trial conference on October 4th at 9 am, according to online court records. He is now charged with felony possession of  child pornography in the third degree.