DuBOIS – A Penfield man facing charges for possessing child pornography and sending sexual messages/photos to a 16-year-old girl was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing.
Travis Perry Kramer, 32, was charged by state police with photograph/film/depict on computer sex act, two counts of dissememinate photo/film of child sex acts, 11 counts of criminal use of communication facility, 10 counts of child pornography, and corruption of minors, all felonies, in addition to two misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors.
He waived his right to a preliminary hearing, sending the case on to the court of common pleas.
Kramer is being held in the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a cyber tip was received in the case involving inappropriate messages between Kramer and a 16-year-old girl.
When the girl was interviewed, she said she got to know him while staying at a relative’s residence. In the summer of 2021, he started messaging her and making sexual advances on a social media site, she said.
She stated she didn’t tell him “no” but “went along” with the messages. She admitted to sending him a naked photo but said she was never sexually active with him. Their relationship was “just conversation and pictures’.
Further investigation revealed that the messages were sexual in nature.
In a second interview in Aug. 2021, the girl said he was texting her and “it got weird” as the messages became inappropriate and sexual. Again she said she just went along with it.
The last message she received from him was an inappropriate naked photo.
Kramer allegedly sent her pictures of other girls and asked her to send more photos. She stated that he was aware she was only 16.
Warrants were sent to several social media companies to get information on his accounts and his phone was seized.
The phone was examined and images of child pornography were found.
In his interview with investigators in Feb. 2022, Kramer admitted he had known the girl for a “long time” and reconnected in the summer of 2021. They started messaging each other and he thought she was interested in him.
Although the messages reportedly became sexual, he said they never “hung out one on one.”
When asked about other sex related photos on his phone, he allegedly admitted that was because “every now and then I would download photos of girls from porn sites.”
He said he downloaded about 20 photos of prepubescent girls, but only ever uploaded two of them, according to the criminal complaint.
“He stated that he posted the photos in hopes of getting interest from other individuals.”