CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man accused of making plans to have sex with a man’s young daughter was sentenced to state prison Tuesday.
Ryan Allan Mayhue, 32, had been charged by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General with unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, criminal attempt/rape of a child, criminal attempt/involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with child and criminal use of communication facility in connection to online conversations he had with a Wampum man.
He pleaded guilty before Judge Paul Cherry to unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of communication facility, both felonies.
Julieane Swain of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit in North Huntingdon said in the messages, Mayhue stated he was wondering what it was like to have sex with a 10-year-old. She noted that it was lucky the chat with the girl’s father was discovered before the meeting could occur.
She asked Cherry to give him 10 years of probation, in addition to the agreement for a state prison sentence.
Mayhue’s attorney, Ryan Dobo, stated that Mayhue “was embarrassed” about what happened.
Before sentencing him, Cherry commented that Mayhue was “a sick man,” “disgusting” and he should be ashamed of himself. He then gave him a five- to 10-year state prison sentence, plus the requested 10 years of consecutive probation.
Although Mayhue was found not to be a sexually-violent predator, he will still have to register with authorities under Megan’s Law.
He was ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 and must complete sex offender counseling.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, investigators received a tip from “CyberTips,” a centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children, on Nov. 30 regarding a conversation between two men on a social media application, one of which mentioned that he had sex with his daughter.
The other man, Mayhue, then asked about that and requested videos and images of the contact.
The conversations continued as the man explained his daughter was younger than 18 but older than 10. The nature of their exchanges was graphic enough that they were both suspended from the site.
On Dec. 1, agents reportedly executed a search warrant at the home of the father, Stanley David Burden, 51.
He is charged in Lawrence County with photograph/film/depict on computer sex act, three counts of child pornography and criminal use of communication facility.
Burden is being held on $100,000 bail with a trial pending, according to online court documents.
After he was taken into custody, Burden told investigators the conversations with Mayhue continued on another messaging app.
An agent assumed Burden’s identity and began responding to Mayhue’s messages, which reportedly asked for naked photos of the girl, videos of her having sex and if Burden would show her photos of Mayhue’s privates.
Mayhue was reminded of the girl’s age and only responded about the possibility of a three-some with the father and the girl, agents said.
As the exchanges continued, Mayhue said he bought the girl a thong and asked if she liked whipped cream. Mayhue agreed to bring the girl a meal from McDonald’s and a plan to meet was set up.
When Mayhue arrived at the location in Lawrence Township on Dec. 5, he was taken into custody.
In his interview with investigators, Mayhue reportedly admitted to sending the messages regarding the child and setting up an opportunity to meet and have sex with her. He also confirmed he was aware of her age.
When Mayhue arrived to meet the girl, he had the thong, McDonald’s food, whipped cream, condoms and a sex toy, according to the criminal complaint.
