It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.
A mom thought something wasn’t right with her 13-year-old daughter. After seeing news reports about the arrest of alleged sex offender Mark Wills in February and hearing the district attorney’s message that there may be other victims, she contacted the police.
It turned out she was right to be worried. But not about the earlier culprit. Instead, three other men have been arrested on charges related to the sex trafficking of her daughter.
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn held a news conference Tuesday to announce the arrests.
County detectives identified “a perpetrator from Kentucky who was sexually exploiting her,” said Schorn. “Not only was he sexually exploiting her, he was manufacturing child sexual abuse materials and he was trafficking her to other men.”
Zachary McCauley
Schorn said Zachary McCauley, 29, of Louisville, Ky., is in custody awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania. McCauley is charged with trafficking in individuals, sexual abuse of children, corruption of minors, and other charges, according to court records.
On Snapchat, McCauley pretended to be a 17-year-old boy, Jake, and befriended the victim.
“That’s unfortunately a theme we see time and time again,” said Schorn. “These forums, it allows for these predators to really (contact victims) with anonymity. And it’s quite frightening, as a result.”
“He used grooming tactics to lower her inhibitions, and then those tactics evolved to threatening to inflict harm upon her mother if she did not comply with his demands,” said Schorn. “As a result, this 13-year-old child’s identity, her picture, was posted on an application that is a dating application, Grindr. Where then she was trafficked to other men for their own deviant sexual purposes.”
Randy Quinn
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim sent McCauley more than 25 videos of herself “in various stages of nudity.” McCauley contacted the victim in September, and after several weeks of grooming, the sexual encounters happened during October.
McCauley told the girl how to create a Grindr dating account, saying she was 18, which he controlled, said Schorn.
“Multiple men responded,” Schorn said. “They pursued this child and engaged in statutory sexual intercourse with this child.”
“One individual did so repeatedly, and he also livestreamed his sexual contact to the trafficker, she said, “creating child pornography.”
Two local men have also been arrested, she said.
Jon Van Ingen, 67, of Buckingham, and Randy Quinn, 42, of Coopersburg. Van Ingen was charged with one count of statutory sexual assault, and Quinn was charged with two counts of statutory sexual assault and one count each of photographing or filming a child sex act and dissemination of photos or film of child sex acts, officials said. Magisterial District Court Judge Maggie Snow released them on $150,000 unsecured bail.
Jon Van Ingen
Through Grindr, arrangements were made for the 13-year-old girl to be picked up and taken to various locations in Bucks County for the two predators to allegedly engage in sexual intercourse with her, said Schorn.
“As a result of the two live stream videos that were captured by McCauley, whether he’s paid in the traditional sense or he’s using that as currency online with other predators, time will tell. The investigation is ongoing as it relates to that,” she said.
“Those images and those videos are out there and very difficult for us to take down,” said Schorn.
Schorn praised the county detectives and the Internet Child Sex Task Force.
“Now, in this digital age and with the social media platforms that are available for these predators, we live in such dangerous times,” she said.
“We have strangers accessing our children (who) invite them into their homes and their bedrooms and oftentimes these crimes unfold,” said Schorn.
Asked if there were other victims, Schorn said the investigation is “very much active.”
A third local man also contacted the girl on Grindr but realized when he saw her in person that she was a child and did not go further. He was not charged.
“These predators are so good at what they do at grooming their victims and making them do things in the name or love or out of fear their loved ones will be harmed,” said Schorn.
Each time a case like this occurs, Schorn and her husband warn their own children about the dangers of online devices.
“I understand there’s a level of privacy you give your children, but you cannot be vigilant enough as to the dangers that are online,” Schorn said.
