Sep 28, 2015 3 min read

An Aliquippa man pleaded guilty Monday to 218 counts of sexually abusing children.

Michael John Bickel, 24, of 3241 Bradley Drive, entered into an open plea agreement before Washington County Judge Gary Gilman. As a result, Bickel’s sentence will be at the discretion of Gilman.

During Monday’s hearing, Bickel appeared fidgety and was soft-spoken when addressing the judge. He was arrested in March at what was then his place of employment, Starpointe in Hanover Township, after images and other information were found on his cellphone.

The investigation began in July 2014 when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children forwarded a cyber tip from Google to an Allegheny County detective assigned to the High Tech Crime Task Force. Bickel was identified as the account holder. The detective checked the flagged file and found images that appeared to depict children under the age of 18 engaged in sex acts. The Allegheny County detective then forwarded the information to the attorney general’s office.

According to court documents, a special agent with the attorney general’s child predator section obtained a search warrant to retrieve electronic data from Bickel’s cellphone. A hard drive from the phone yielded a series of text messages investigators say Bickel exchanged with a boy who is now 13. Bickel also was accused of engaging in sex acts with two boys who were between the ages of 7 and 11 between summer 2010 and this past winter.

The latest victim is described as a friend of one of the first two boys, and in the messaging sequence, investigators said Bickel used the 13-year-old as an intermediary to arrange a liaison with a younger boy. Bickel sent repeated text messages to the 13-year-old over four hours Jan. 22, to which the boy did not respond. Messages of a lewd nature resumed Feb. 15.

Also found on the phone’s memory were text and Facebook messages between Bickel and a fourth boy, age 12, occurring between Dec. 7 and March 8, in which Bickel sought a sexual encounter with the youth and nude or explicit photos of him.

On Jan. 30, Bickel sent four sexually explicit photos, three of which depicted Bickel engaging in sexual activity with one of the original victims.

In an affidavit, investigators said Bickel admitted to using his cellphone to videotape himself having sex with the children and download “thousands” of pornographic images involving children.

Bickel’s attorney, Christopher Sherwood, and Chief Deputy Attorney General Laura Ditka declined to comment following Monday’s hearing.

Bickel was returned to the county jail, where he remains on a $600,000 bond. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 28.