A Pottsville man was arrested Monday after allegedly getting nabbed in a recent Predator Poachers sting operation.
Predator Poachers is a popular YouTube channel with more than 175,000 subscribers. It specializes in posing as children online and arranging meetings with suspected pedophiles.
On Monday morning, police in Pottsville were contacted by a representiatve of Predator Poachers and told to come to an apartment in the 1200 block of W. Norwegian St. in the city. The rep said that a female in the organization recently posed as an 11-year-old girl online and on Dec. 15, 2024, began having a conversation with William Detwiler, 41.
According to a statement from Pottsville Bureau of Police, Detwiler started the conversation on that December day on Messenger and continued it through Monday. Predator Poachers allegedly provided a transcript of the conversation to police. That conversation reportedly shows that the Predator Poachers representative says she’s 11 years old and Detwiler says he’s 41.
Detwiler reportedly wrote that “her age was great” and “in fact, I think you are sexy.” He then reportedly sent a shirtless photo of himself to what he thought was an 11-year-old girl. Detwiler escalated the conversation, police say, by sending a photo of his genitals and continually asking for similar pictures in return.
Police took Detwiler into custody on Monday night and he was arraigned before District Magistrate Judge Stephen Bayer on multiple felony charges, including corruption of minors, criminal solicitation, attempted sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communication facility, and misdemeanor offenses of indecent exposure.
Bayer remanded Detwiler to Schuylkill County Prison on $25,000 bail, which hasn’t been posted.
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