CLEARFIELD, Pa. (GANT) – A Clearfield man caught by a local sexual predator watch group allegedly trying to meet a teenage boy was scheduled for court on Wednesday.
(This article was provided by our News Partner GantDaily.com.)
Mathew Allen Uncles, 42, is charged with felony criminal attempt-corruption of minors; criminal attempt-unlawful contact with a minor; and criminal use of communication facility.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Lawrence Township police were asked on November 3 to contact the group leader of 814 Pred Hunters.
The group had received text-messages from Uncles, who reportedly planned to meet a decoy posing as a 15-year-old boy at a local business.
But when Uncles was about to be confronted, he fled in an orange in color Jeep Wrangler. They followed Uncles to his residence and asked police to respond nearby to obtain evidence.
On-scene the decoy turned over screenshots of messages she exchanged with Uncles, as well as other paperwork related to this specific case.
Messages show that Uncles first contacts the decoy November 2 through a social networking app. This evolves to text messages after Uncles gives the alleged boy his cell number.
“The male was aware the person he was speaking to was 15 years of age and still had a sexual conversation,” police say. It involves “meeting up and performing sexual acts on one another.”
After briefly reviewing information, police responded to Uncles’ residence where he allegedly admitted to having made a “mistake” by talking to someone underage.
He was subsequently transported to the police station for an interview. Again, he admitted to messaging the alleged boy and finding him in the “I Like Them Young” section.
Then, Uncles said although mobile messages and provided evidence would indicate otherwise, he really wasn’t trying to meet up for sexual reasons.
When confronted with the print outs of his illicit conversations, he said he noticed the 814 Pred Hunters group when he got to the meeting place, and so he left.
He claimed he was only meeting the boy that night to “hang out” but did eventually admit that it would have become as sexual in nature as he described in messages.
Uncles consented for police to search his phone, which allegedly contained numerous conversations with individuals of unknown ages about meeting and actually meeting for sexual activities.
It was also found that Uncles had done a Google search of “814 Pred Hunters,” which he said was due to having come into contact with the group.
Uncles – at the request of police – consented for his phone to be turned over to the DuBois City Police Department for a data extraction.
Uncles had all three felony charges held to county court following a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Currently his bail is set at $50,000, unsecured.
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