Testimony in the trial of a Connellsville man accused of soliciting and distributing images of child pornography will begin Tuesday.
Westmoreland County prosecutors charged Jonathan A. Dulaney, 30, with five counts, alleging that in December 2021 and January 2022 he and his then-wife surreptitiously recorded images of a teenage girl during an internet chat, and then distributed the images on social media.
Dulaney is charged with three child pornography counts, unlawful contact with a child for the purposes of sexual abuse and one charge of copying obscene material involving a minor.
Assistant District Attorney Aubri Swank, in her opening statement to the jury on Monday, said Dulaney made a recording of a video chat in which he enticed the girl, then 17, to disrobe. Sher was at her Mt. Pleasant Township home at the time. He recorded the incident using his cellphone.
“He convinced her to take off her clothes, on video, and recorded it. The victim didn’t know she was being recorded until her boyfriend received a Facebook message with the video,” Swank told jurors.
Swank said Dulaney’s former wife was also charged in connection to the incident, but that she did not actively disseminate the teen’s video. She is expected to testify for the prosecution and tell jurors that Dulaney used her social media account to share the pornography, according to prosecutors.
Assistant Public Defender Jonathan Nace said the alleged victim’s parents are expected to testify.
Nace, in his opening statement, did not disclose the defense’s theory of the case.
“There are two stories,” Nace told jurors.