Mt. Lebanon man charged with meeting teen connected to Peters sextortion plot
Second adult charged in less than two weeks
Another man has been charged in connection with the sextortion scheme in Peters Township after he allegedly met up with a teenage boy to perform sex acts on one another.
Charles Ezekiel Usner, 23, of Mt. Lebanon, was charged Monday with multiple felony counts after Peters Township police said he communicated with the 15-year-old boy and drove him to Peters Lake Park last summer.
Usner, who went by the nickname Zeke in messages, began communicating with the boy in late June and agreed to pick up the teen and drove him to the park where the sexual encounter occurred July 1 last year, according to court documents. Police said Usner recorded the sex acts on the juvenile’s cell phone, and two weeks later the teen messaged Zachariah Abraham Meyers that he had “vids” of the encounter.
Meyers, who is a former Peters Township High School student, is accused of enticing 25 fellow students to send compromising photos or videos of themselves and then allegedly blackmailing them. Police said Meyers coerced the teenage victim into meeting Usner and another man for separate sexual encounters last July as part of the sextortion scheme.
Investigators found the video allegedly showing Usner engaged in the sex act with the teen on the juvenile’s phone while reviewing the Meyers case and were able to find other identifying information, along with his cell phone location data showing the suspect was in the area at the time of the encounter, according to court documents.
Usner was arraigned Monday afternoon on felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a person under 16, statutory sex assault, unlawful contact with a minor, communication with a minor, film depicting a sx act, criminal use of a communication facility and corruption of a minor, along with one misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person under 16. Following his arraignment, District Judge Phillippe Melograne sent Usner to the Washington County jail on $500,000 cash bond while awaiting his preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. Aug. 17.
Usner is the second man in less than two weeks to be charged with allegedly having inappropriate contact with a teenage boy through the sextortion scheme.
Aaron Foster White, 30, Fallowfield Township, was charged by Peters Township police July 23 for allegedly sending photographs and videos he took of his genitalia to a 15-year-old boy during multiple interactions using a social media app last summer. Local and federal investigators found the images on the teens phone while investigating the case involving Meyers, prompting them to charge White.
Meyers, 19, is being held without bond at the Washington County jail while awaiting trial on 67 felony counts following his arrest in February.