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Philadelphia Journalist, Once Ubiquitous on Social Media, Facing Child Porn Charge

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 17th, 2025 · 4:29 PM EDT

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Philly Mag posted this Victor Fiorillo story on Tuesday:

This Philly journalist who has worked for 6ABC and Visit Philly, among many other local and national outlets and websites, was just charged in a child porn case. And it's not the first time he's been charged with crimes against kids.https://t.co/nIayl2NODa

— Philly Mag (@phillymag) June 17, 2025

Hey I know that guy! It’s Michael Hochman. He used to write for Crossing Broad. No, seriously, he did. In the site’s very early days, way before Pagan and myself, Kyle Scott (the Maestro) had a running thing where reader submissions were accepted and posted. Hochman wrote a handful, among them, Harry Kalas Puts 9/11 into Words and Phillies Grieving: Putting it All into Perspective. The posts were published under Kyle’s byline but attributed to the guest writers with an explainer at the top.

Hochman was highly active on social media as well, frequently responding to posts from various media outlets and individuals under the Twitter handle @PhillyPartTwo. That account’s posts are now protected.

Fiorillo mentions in the story that Hochman is charged with one count of “receipt of child pornography,” and the allegation is described this way in the initial court filing:

“On or about August 30, 2023, in Bucks County, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, defendant MICHAEL HOCHMAN, after having previously been convicted in state court of Aggravated Indecent Liberties with a Child in violation of K.S.A. No. 21-3504(a)(1), a crime under the laws of the state of Kansas criminalizing sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 14 and 16 years, knowingly received visual depictions using any means and facility of interstate and foreign commerce, and that had been mailed and shipped and transported in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, the producing of which involved the use of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and the visual depiction was of such conduct.”

Hmm, okay. So it says this took place almost two years ago. Coincidentally, Hochman did seem to drop off the face of the Earth and stopped engaging on social media. I was wondering what had happened to the guy.

There’s not much else in the court system worth mentioning. An arraignment is scheduled for June 30th in Philadelphia, and that’s when he’ll enter a plea.

The bigger story is the prior conviction, which I guess very few people knew about. Fiorillo details some of that in his writeup. Hochman is listed in the sex offender registry, where it’s noted that the Kansas offense took place in March of 2000 and the conviction in October of 2001.