A Schuylkill County man who allegedly presented himself as a pastor and led online Bible study sessions is in county prison after police say he exchanged sexually explicit videos with a 17-year-old girl and asked her to record sex acts on herself.
Patrick Garyfallou, 45, of Pottsville, was charged Thursday by Pottsville Police Det. Joseph Krammes with sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility, and obscene and other sexual materials and performances.
The investigation reached Pottsville on July 21, when Krammes was contacted by a police officer from the Orange, Massachusetts. Police say the teen told the Massachusetts officer she had been communicating on Facebook and elsewhere with two adult men, one of whom was identified through his Facebook account as Garyfallou. The Massachusetts department reached out to Pottsville because Garyfallou lives in the city, police say.
According to police, the teen reported that Garyfallou and the second man created a Facebook group chat that included her and other underage girls. Garyfallou identified himself in those chats as a pastor and began teaching lessons on sexuality, police say. Police say he also sent images and video of himself naked with his face included in the images, and that the Massachusetts officer identified him by comparing the video to his legal identification photo.
Police say the two men pressured the 17-year-old to provide a similar video, and that she eventually sent both men a video of herself nude.
The second man, who is not charged in the case locally, agreed to speak with the Massachusetts officer. He told police he met Garyfallou roughly three to four years ago while playing an online game called “Battle Pirates,” that the two have never met in person, and that they communicate mainly through Facebook Messenger. He described Garyfallou as a “leader” of a Bible study group that meets weekly over Google Meet, attended mostly by himself, Garyfallou and one other man. He told police that younger participants sometimes join the study, that Garyfallou tailors the sessions toward children, and that with participants 15 and older Garyfallou focuses on the story of Adam and Eve and what he described as the sexual side of the Bible.
The man also told police that Garyfallou created a second Facebook Messenger group chat, labeled “adults only,” which averages seven to eight participants and was created about a year and a half ago. He said the 17-year-old was added to that chat, that he sent an explicit photo of himself into it, and that Garyfallou has sent multiple nude photos and videos there, police say.
Pottsville police applied for a search warrant for Garyfallou’s electronic devices on July 29. Magisterial District Judge James Reiley approved it, and Pottsville police served the warrant the following day at a residence in the 500 block of E. Market St., seizing three phones and a tablet.
Garyfallou agreed to speak with investigators at City Hall, where police say he was read his Miranda rights and signed a waiver. He told police he was in a relationship with the girl and believed she was 18, that he had known her since 2024 and began dating her in June, and that he sent her multiple videos and photos of himself naked and performing sex acts, police say. He also told police he asked her to send photos and videos of herself performing sex acts and that she complied.
Police say Garyfallou acknowledged eventually learning the girl was 17 but did not delete the images and videos. He first told investigators an attorney had advised him to delete them, then said the person was a friend of a friend who worked for an attorney and not an actual attorney, police say.
Garyfallou was arraigned July 30 before Reiley and committed to Schuylkill County Prison, unable to post $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 17 before Reiley.
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