Greene Co. man faces child sex charges
A Greene County man was arrested and charged with using Facebook to solicit sex and exchange sexually explicit photographs with minors.
The man is charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced Tuesday Joshua W. Porterfield, 24, of Dilliner, was arrested following an investigation by her Child Predator Section, local police and the girl’s high school.
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began when administrators at a Greene County high school contacted local police about Porterfield contacting a student through Facebook and allegedly sending the minor a nude image of himself via Snapchat.
Local police requested the assistance of Child Predator Section, who immediately opened an investigation.
The child saved a screen capture of the image and was interviewed by CPS agents, who identified potential victims through an analysis of mutual Facebook connections with Porterfield.
Agents obtained a search warrant for Porterfield’s Facebook account and located more than 1,000 deleted, private messages between Porterfield and a second minor. It was determined that Porterfield and the second minor began talking in August.
The second victim said Porterfield picked her up in September, knowing she was 15 years old, drove her to another location and the two engaged in sex acts in Porterfield’s vehicle.
The child reported three similar occasions in the weeks that followed, including one encounter where Porterfield took her to his Dilliner home.
An arrest warrant for Porterfield was served on Sunday and he was taken into custody without incident. Search warrants were executed on his car and phone. He was preliminary arraigned with bond set at $100,000 and lodged in Greene County jail.
Porterfield is charged with two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, one count of involuntary deviate intercourse, one count of statutory sexual assault, one count of aggravated indecent assault, one count of corruption of minors, one count of criminal use of a communications facility and one count of indecent assault.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday.