CLEARFIELD – A Philipsburg man has been accused of sending an obscene picture and video of himself to a teenage girl on social media.
Hunter Thomas Harris, 24, has been charged by Trooper Nicholas Rickerson of the Clearfield-based state police with felony counts of dissemination of explicit sexual material to a minor and unlawful contact with a minor/sexual offense, plus misdemeanor corruption of minors.
Harris waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday during centralized court at the Clearfield County Jail. His bail has been set at $5,000 monetary.
The charges stem from an incident on May 25 at a Cooper Township residence, where a 15-year-old girl was receiving the obscene messages, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed with the office of Magisterial District Judge Jerome Nevling.
State police interviewed the girl in the presence of a family member. She said she had been contacted by Harris on Facebook messenger, and when she told him she was 16 years old, he replied “ughh lol.” He later asked why she couldn’t be 18 years old.
She said she gave Harris her Snap Chat user name and he began messaging her through that app the same day. She said he asked her to remove her top and she told him “no” and that what he was doing was illegal.
Harris asked her to send some “selfies” to him, and she sent some old pictures of herself from her Facebook account. In return she said he sent a picture of himself while laying on a pillow, of his bare chest and of his private area.
Harris also allegedly sent the girl an obscene video of himself. She advised a family member of the situation, and they warned Harris to leave the girl alone. Harris replied that he would delete the girl from his Snap Chat and refrain from future contact with her.
The family member told state police that she had observed all the messages between Harris and the girl on both Facebook messenger and Snap Chat.
State police also observed the messages while conducting the investigation at the scene. The girl sent the trooper copies of all the exchanged messages, pictures and video.
On June 3, state police interviewed Harris and he allegedly confessed to sending the girl a picture of his private area. He said he may have sent an obscene video to her, as well.
