Man Found Guilty Of Masturbating On PATCO In Front Of Kids

CAMDEN, NJ — A man was found guilty Thursday of masturbating in front of two teenage girls on a PATCO train and then trying to coerce the victims into withholding testimony.

In August 2021, Charles May committed the lewd act while the victims were taking the PATCO home from a concert in Camden, authorities said. Delaware River Port Authority police were notified and arrested him on a train platform.

The case was initially scheduled to go to trial last July. But one month prior, one of the victims started receiving "strange, sexual, and intimidating" messages from a burner account on Instagram, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

One of the messages instructed the victim to "toss the case by mid-July," prosecutors said.

Detectives found that May created the account and tried to coerce the girl into not testifying against him.

After a two-day trial, a jury found May guilty of third-degree child endangerment via sexual conduct, third-degree witness tampering, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

May, 30, of Chester, Pennsylvania, faces up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11 in Camden County Superior Court.