Fallowfield man accused of sexting with Peters Township boy
A Fallowfield man was arrested Thursday and charged with exchanging nude images with a teenage boy, who is also an alleged victim in the recent “sextortion” ring that involved more than two dozen Peters Township teens.
Aaron Foster White, 30, is facing felony charges after Peters Township police said they found photographs and videos he took of his genitalia and allegedly sent to the 15-year-old boy during multiple interactions using a social media app last summer.
The boy who reportedly communicated with White is also listed in court documents as “Juvenile #1” in the “catfishing and sextortion” scheme in which Zachariah Abraham Meyers, who is a former Peters Township High School student, is accused of enticing 25 fellow students to send compromising photos of themselves and then allegedly blackmailing them. Meyers, 19, is being held without bond at the Washington County jail while awaiting trial on 67 felony counts following his arrest in February.
White is not tied to the alleged sextortion ring, but Peters Township police said while investigating the Meyers case they found a SnapChat user name tied to his email communicating with the 15-year-old boy and exchanging sexual images and videos, according to court documents.
Peters Township police, detectives with the Washington County District Attorney’s office and members of Homeland Security Investigations searched White’s home in Fallowfield Township in March and questioned him about his interactions with the teen. Investigators said White admitted to communicating with the boy and even made arrangements to purchase his used underwear, according to court documents.
Investigators analyzed White’s devices and social media accounts before filing charges against him Thursday.
White is facing felony charges of photographs of sex acts, communication with a minor, child sex abuse material and criminal use of a communications facility, along with one misdemeanor count of corruption of a minor. He was arraigned Thursday afternoon by District Judge Phillippe Melograne, who sent him to the Washington County jail on $150,000 cash bond while awaiting his preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 3.
White’s defense attorney, Gary Gerson, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.