A 27-year-old Luzerne County man has been charged with using the online chat forum Discord to lure a South Hills teen to his eastern Pennsylvania home for sex.
Christopher P. Jones, of Nanticoke, a small suburb about 25 miles southwest of Scranton, was arrested Monday on six felony charges, including having unlawful contact with a minor, attempted statutory sexual assault and attempted aggravated indecent assault.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force took Jones into custody Monday. He was being held Tuesday afternoon in Luzerne County Jail, an FBI spokesman said.
It is unclear if or when Jones will be moved to the Pittsburgh area. Whitehall police did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.
Police said the victim — a 14-year-old girl from Whitehall — was reported missing Sunday. The girl’s family gave authorities her iPad. Photos on the tablet, combined with facial recognition technology and cell phone data, led them to Jones’ home, according to a criminal complaint in the case.
Data from the iPad showed that the teen spoke on Discord with Jones, communicating under the username “Memphis Row,” for several hours Friday, the complaint said.
Police said the teen told Jones she was 14. Jones responded by saying “he prefers (an) intimate relationship with children that age,” according to the complaint.
The pair talked “about performing sexual acts with each other,” and Jones made plans for the girl to visit him in Nanticoke, the complaint said. Police said Jones’ “cover story” was to pose as the teen’s father.
Crime analysts said they also linked a vehicle the pair discussed — a black 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee — to Jones. License plate readers spotted the vehicle traveling west on Route 22, then passing an intersection near the teen’s home, on Saturday night, the complaint said.
At 1:48 a.m. Sunday, a license plate reader recorded the vehicle traveling toward Jones’ home, the complaint said.
Investigators said they were able to rescue the girl the next day. Police released no information about her condition.
Whitehall police Tuesday said the case should remind families and guardians to stay aware of their children’s online presence and social media activity.
“Social media can be a powerful tool—not just for connection, but for locating individuals in urgent situations,” police Chief Jason C. Gagorik said in a prepared statement. “We encourage parents to maintain open conversations with their children about online activity and to be mindful of what is shared publicly.”
The Villanova Law Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation says Discord uses a self-reporting age verification. A reliance on those tools helps turn the general-purpose messaging platform into “a powerful tool for grooming and sharing child sexual abuse material,” the institute said online.
More than 200 million people each month — nearly 30% of them teenagers — use Discord, which the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has included several times on its “Dirty Dozen” list for facilitating sexual exploitation and abuse.
Allegations of illicit activities have spurred lawsuits.
In one, a North Carolina family sued two online platforms — one of them Discord — for providing the access for a Baton Rouge, La. man to exchange explicit photos with a 13-year-old girl, then attempt to blackmail the teen in a form of “sextortion.”
Discord, which is headquartered in San Francisco, did not return a phone call or email Tuesday seeking comment.