⏲︎ This article is more than a year old.

Berks County prison records show that Michael Folmer, former state senator for Lebanon County, was released by court order on Tuesday, July 20.

The former senator was sentenced on July 21, 2020 to between one year minus one day to two years minus two days in prison for possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.

Read More: Michael Folmer, former state senator, sentenced to just less than two years on child porn charges, avoids state prison

Folmer was granted parole by Lebanon County Judge John C. Tylwalk on June 17 and is now on probation under supervision by Lebanon County probation officers.

Folmer was sentenced to three years of consecutive probation, during which time he cannot have unsupervised contact with children.

While not considered a violent sexual predator, Folmer is registered as a sex offender under the Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act, and will be for 14 more years. This follows the discovery of child pornography on Folmer’s phone in a September 2019 search of his home.

Read More: AG charges State Sen. Mike Folmer with possession of child pornography

Prior to his arrest, the Republican served four terms as a senator for Lebanon County. After his resignation he was replaced by Republican Dave Arnold, who passed away Jan. 17 of this year from brain cancer. The seat is now filled by Republican Chris Gebhard.

Read More: Republican Dave Arnold elected to fill remainder of Folmer’s state Senate term

More information is forthcoming and LebTown will seek to provide updates when available.

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Emily Bixler was born and raised in Lebanon and now reports on local government. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano and going for hikes.