NJ- Man accused in underage sex sting

5-9-2008 Pennsylvania:

FORKS TWP. | A 53-year-old township man is in jail after he sent sexually explicit images to someone he was chatting with online who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, court records say.

But William J. Easterday of the 1400 block of Derhammer Street was actually talking to an agent with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office, according to records. Easterday was talking to the agent sporadically from October 2007 to February 2008, records say.

Easterday, chatting under the screen name "Dirtyolderman," asked the agent, Jessica L. Lynn, her bra size, body type and if she liked older men, records say. Easterday also sent the agent miniature icons, showing explicit images, records say.

When the agent asked why he didn't send full size images, he responded: "I don't know u really well yet, sorry but I can go to jail for sending u pics like that," records said.

When Easterday was speaking with the agent on Dec. 10, she reiterated that she was a 14-year-old girl, records said. Easterday told the agent he was scared that he was talking with her "cause that's how the guys on that TV show get caught and go to jail."

Records say Easterday was chatting with the agent from his office at Sussex Wire Inc., 4 Danforth Road, in Forks Township. When agents searched his office Feb. 24, they found explicit images on his computer, three of which were child pornography, records said.

Easterday is charged with five counts of unlawful contact with a minor, four counts of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication facility. He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 straight bail.

Easterday's arrest was one of several announced Thursday by the attorney general's office. Michael McBeth, 35, of Shippensburg; William Algeo, 47, of Delaware County; Michael Gates, 40, of Coplay, and Charles Lumberton, 20, of Northampton, were also arrested by agents of the child predator unit this week. They are accused of using Internet chat rooms to sexually proposition what they believed were young teenage girls and sending sexually explicit videos or photos to the girls, according to the attorney general's office. ..News Source.. by Michael Buck