A preliminary hearing has been set for April 17 for the Smethport man facing more than 880 counts of child pornography.

Daniel W. Merrick, 64, of 858 Route 446, is charged with 570 counts of child pornography — involving indecent contact, second-degree felonies; 316 counts of child pornography — involving nudity, third-degree felonies; and one count of criminal use of a communications facility, a third-degree felony.

Merrick, a Christian musician, pastor and former Bradford store owner and landlord, was arrested after a Cybertip was made to State Police Computer Crimes alleging eight images and one video of child pornography were traced back to his cell phone, according to the criminal complaint.

A search warrant served on the Verizon Cloud for Merrick’s account allegedly found 178 additional images of child pornography involving indecent contact and 139 involving nudity. The images were saved on a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G; there were numerous photos of Merrick on the account as well, the complaint stated.

On Feb. 10, a search warrant was executed on Merrick’s residence, and the arresting trooper spoke with Merrick at the scene. Mewrrick told the trooper that he “began viewing pornography due to his wife refusing to be intimate with him,” the complaint stated, which Merrick said led to a “two-month curiosity in child pornography.”

He told police that he had an addiction and would seek help, the complaint read.

Reviewing Merrick’s phone, the trooper found 383 images of child pornography involving indecent contact and 176 involving nudity, including an image that was located on the CyberTip, according to the complaint.

Merrick is free, having posted $20,000 bail. Merrick is represented by attorney Christopher Martini.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled before District Judge Bill Todd in Smethport.