Man Seeking Teen Sex Caught After Undercover Operation: Cops

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional information after it became available. Police originally said the defendant was caught by an undercover cop, but he was actually caught after a predator-seeking group conducted a sting operation.

LANSDALE, PA — A local man is facing criminal charges in neighboring Bucks County after investigators say he attempted to meet up with a teenage boy for sex at a local park, but he actually ended up being snared in an undercover operation.

Devon Weiss, 23, of Lansdale, was arrested by members of the Central Bucks Regional Police Department and charged on Sept. 16 with a total of five felonies and one misdemeanor stemming from what authorities say was an attempt to meet who he thought was a minor boy for sex.

Police say that Weiss attempted to "lure" an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old boy for sex, and that a meetup was scheduled for late June in Veterans Memorial Park in Doylestown, Bucks County.

Police said that Weiss ended up being intercepted and arrested after a group called "Predator Poachers," based in Houston, Texas, told Pennsylvania authorities that it created a fake profile on the social media app Grindr posing as a 13-year-old boy, and that Weiss allegedly began sending messages to the account.

A criminal complaint in the case says that the predator-seeking group created the fake profile in late May and that Weiss communicated with the profile until late July.

The complaint says that Weiss was set to meet the "boy" at Veterans Memorial Park in Doylestown on July 24, and when it came time to meet, Weiss was actually greeted by the individual working for the predator-seeking group.

The man working with the group told investigators that when he confronted Weiss with a cellphone, Weiss grabbed the cellphone and drove away from the scene rapidly.

Weiss was later arrested by police in Bucks County without incident after they obtained his identifying information.

Court records show that Weiss has been charged with felony counts of criminal attempt-involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 13 years of age, criminal attempt-unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, criminal attempt-sell obscene sexual materials, and criminal attempt-corruption of minors, as well as an additional misdemeanor count of criminal attempt-indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age.

Weiss was arraigned on Monday before Magisterial District Court Judge Mark D. Douple.

He was released after posting $150,000 unsecured bail, according to the criminal docket sheet in the case.

Weiss is next expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on the charges on Sept. 26.