Former Bensalem Basketball Coach Gets 20 Years For Child Porn
by Alex Lloyd Gross
James Hardcastle from Bensalem was a youth basketball coach. As the coach, he took three teenage boys to Wildwood with him, to play in a tournament in June of 2016. Hardcastle shared a motel room with the boys at a small motel. This room in which the coach rented had no shower curtain. It is unknown if the curtain was removed by the coach or it never had one. What is known is that Hardcastle did install a recording device with a USB drive in the bathroom , which was pointed at the shower, and recorded the boys bathing.
One of the boys discovered the recorder was curious as to what it was . He later saw it in in coaches belongings and swiped it, handing it over to police. Police learned that a prior year , Hardcastle attempted to record minors taking a shower when they visited his home in Bensalem. Police investigated and turned the matter over to the FBI. In 2019 James Hardcastle pleaded guilty to three counts of transporting minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of attempted production of child pornography.
He was sentenced yesterday August 17, 2020.to serve 20 years in prison for his crimes. “The boys James Hardcastle victimized will never forget their trusted coach’s betrayal,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “He used his relationship with them for his own gratification, setting them up for his illicit secret recordings. The FBI will never stand by when we learn of the sexual exploitation of children. Such predators need to be taken off the street so they can’t harm anyone else.”