Former Montco professor sentenced for child sex abuse

A former Penn State Abington professor was sentenced to jail and house arrest Monday for sexual abuse of children.

Stephen Stace, 66, of Horsham, exchanged nude photos with a 16-year-old girl in Spain, said Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites. He also had pornographic images of young children on his computer, Polites said.

Stace was sentenced Monday to three to 23 months for sexual abuse of children. The first 45 days of his sentence will be spent in Montgomery County jail; he will serve the remainder of his sentence on house arrest.

Prosecutors said Stace, who had retired from his job as a music professor at Penn State Abington before his arrest in 2013, took nude photos of himself inside his Penn State office and used his work e-mail address to communicate with the young girl in Spain.

Stace pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of child pornography and a misdemeanor charge of corruption of minors.

Judge Garrett D. Page also sentenced Stace to five years of probation and 50 hours of community service. He will be required to register as a sex offender for the next 15 years, Polites said.

- Laura McCrystal