BURNHAM - Agents from the Child Predator Unit of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office arrested a Burnham man recently and charged him with two dozen felonies.
Jack A. Stewart, 65, was taken before Magisterial District Judge Aaron Gingrich for arraignment on Thursday and then placed in the Mifflin County County Correctional Facility. Online records indicate Stewart posted bail that same day.
Police said Stewart is alleged to have engaged in lewd acts via webcam with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl, but who was instead an agent with the Child Predator Unit.
The agent who created the online persona of the 12-year-old girl was contacted on several occasions by an individual using the screen name "leadin_u_astray," who sent the agent more than 200 photographs and about 80 videos of adults and children engaged in sexual activity, court documents indicate.
Grand Jury subpoenas were sent to Yahoo and Verizon Online LLC, requesting account and billing information regarding the IP address of "leadin_u_astray." Once agents received the information, they tracked down the physical address of the computer to 227 6th Avenue, Burnham, where Stewart was taken into custody.
Stewart is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, disseminating child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.
