An out-of-state man has been charged with sex trafficking a 13-year-old Bucks County girl and coercing her through fear to engage in sexual intercourse with two men, authorities said.
Zachary Lee McCauley, 29, of Louisville, Kentucky, faces multiple felony charges including trafficking in individuals, sexual exploitation of children, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said. He is in custody in Kentucky awaiting extradition.
Investigators said McCauley, who was arrested last week, groomed and coerced the girl into having sexual encounters with Jon Thomas Van Ingen, 67, of Buckingham Township, and Randy Francis Quinn, 42, of Coopersburg Borough in Lehigh County, three times in October.
At least one encounter was video recorded via Snapchat, authorities said.
A third encounter with a separate man in Bucks County ended last October when he became suspicious of the girl’s age, authorities said.
Van Ingen was charged with one count of statutory sexual assault, and Quinn was charged with two counts of statutory sexual assault and one count each of photographing or filming a child sex act and dissemination of photos or film of child sex acts.
Van Ingen and Quinn were preliminarily arraigned on Monday by District Judge Maggie Snow and released on $150,000 unsecured bail.
Detectives found McCauley arranged the encounters through an online dating site. He allegedly created a fake profile for the girl and falsely claimed she was 18.
McCauley posted sexually suggestive photos of the girl, and he also created a fake school ID for her, authorities said.
The investigation began in February after the girl’s mother raised concerns, District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a press conference Tuesday at the Justice Center.
The district attorney said the mother of the victim came forward to police after seeing news coverage of a Hulmeville Borough man who was arrested in February in a case involving alleged coercion of minors.
The girl had been communicating with someone on Snapchat who identified himself as “Jake” and claimed to be 17. “Jake” was later identified as McCauley, authorities said.
Authorities said McCauley persuaded the girl to send him more than 25 sexually explicit videos and images, and threatened to harm her mother if she refused. He also directed her to create a Grindr account and give him the login credentials, authorities said.
“I praise the mother in this case because her instincts were correct,” Schorn said. “And I praise the victim in this case, she is only 13 years of age, and she is so strong and she is not to be blamed for what occurred. These cases cannot succeed without the amazing team of county detectives and the other detectives throughout Bucks County who make up our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. They use the resources and their expertise to battle these crimes every single day.”
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and Bucks County Detectives conducted the investigation with assistance from the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General and St. Matthews Police Department in Kentucky.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
Advertisement
Convenient Legal Access to High Quality Cannabis Just A Few Minutes Away!
Leave a Comment