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US Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested Jeffrey Pettinato after he set up the meeting with the 14-year-old girl for Oct. 22 and paid her "money for her to perform sexual acts on him," the Derry Township police stated in a release on Nov. 7.
The 14-year-old girl was no child at all, but really an undercover police officer, the police explained in the release.
He was arrested around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, according to the police.
He was charged with the following felonies, court records show:
- Criminal solicitation - involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age.
- Criminal solicitation - promote the prostitution of a minor- solicit of a minor to patronize (2 counts).
- Dissemination of explicit sexual material to a minor.
- Unlawful contact with a minor - obscene and other sexual materials and performances.
- Criminal use of a communication facility.
He was arraigned the same day as his arrest and was denied bail by Magisterial District Judge William C. Wenner, who said he poses "a threat to society" as written in his latest court docket.
Pettinato previously served 197 Days days in jail after pleading guilty to one felon charge of promoting the prostitution of a minor - in his owned or controlled home following an incident in 2020, according to a previous court docket. He is also a registered sex offender due to this offense, according to the Pennsylvania State Police Megan's Law Registry.
His preliminary hearing has been set before Magisterial District Judge Dominic Pelino at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 14, his latest docket details.
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