Four central Pennsylvania men were arrested in Patton Township over the last week for attempted child sexual exploitation after what Centre County’s top prosecutor called “a multifaceted investigation” by local, state and federal law enforcement.
Christopher L. Crispen, 33, of Howard; Robert D. Mansberger, 58, of Cassville; Walter T. Sitosky, 66, of Houtzdale; and Gregory Wilson, 50, of Lewistown, were taken into custody between Nov. 8-10 for attempting to have sexual contact with a minor.
In each case the men communicated with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a teenager or as someone who would arrange sex with a teen for money, according to affidavits of probable cause.
The investigation was led by the FBI and assisted by officers from Patton Township police, the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit, the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office and Williamsport police.
“It was a multifaceted investigation with individuals working online, emailing and texting individuals, as well as a number of officers that were on the ground to make arrests when these arrests occurred,” Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said on Monday. “It was an extremely important detail with an extremely good result.”
Sitosky and Mansberger separately responded to an online advertisement for a female willing to engage in sexual activities, according to affidavits filed by Patton Township police. Both men allegedly arranged through text messages with an undercover officer to go to the State College area to pay for sex with what they believed would be a 13-year-old girl.
In both cases, the men arrived at the arranged address in Patton Township and paid a deposit to an undercover officer with the intention of being taken to a residence to meet the teen, police wrote. They were then taken into custody and both men admitted that they intended to pay for sex with a 13-year-old, according to the affidavit.
Crispen is accused of sending a series of messages to an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old boy. He allegedly discussed engaging in sex acts and arranged to meet the “teen” at a location on Friday in Patton Township and take him back to his home to have sex. When he arrived, Crispen was taken into custody and admitted that he planned to “fool around” with a 15-year-old.
Sitosky and Mansberger are each charged with felony counts of attempted patronizing of a victim of human trafficking, attempted statutory sexual assault, attempting to promote the prostitution of a minor, attempted unlawful sexual contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility.
District Judge Casey McClain set Sitosky’s bail at $100,000 and Mansberger’s at $250,000. Both were unable to post bail and are detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
Crispen is charged with felony counts of attempted statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility. He was arraigned by McClain and was unable to post $100,000 bail.
Preliminary hearings are scheduled for Wednesday.
Wilson was arrested on Wednesday and charged in federal court with attempted coercion, enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and prostitution. He was scheduled to make his first appearance on Monday and a criminal complaint was not yet available.
Patton Township police Chief Tyler Jolley said the investigation stemmed from conversations at a monthly networking meeting of local and federal law enforcement earlier this year.
“Trafficking of human beings is a major, major issue amongst our country, not just in our local area,” Jolley said. “We live in a very transient area. We have large events in our area that draw people from all over the state and the tri-state area and possibly the country. Just with the amount of traffic that comes through here, we thought it would be a good idea to partner with the FBI, state police to see if we have a need for this type of detail, and clearly it showed with our results that we did.”
Special Agent Vanessa Paris of the FBI’s State College office lauded the cooperation among law enforcement agencies in working together to prevent child exploitation.
“The FBI is fully committed to our role in addressing child sexual exploitation and to our partnerships here with our partners,” Paris said. “We will continue to provide all available resources, be it personnel, information or resources to conduct these types of operations. These operations are extremely important in our joint efforts addressing child sexual exploitation cases as well as violent crimes against children here in our area. We will continue our partnership, and are very fortunate here as the FBI to have such good partners here in Centre County and in Central Pennsylvania.”
