Man Sexually Assaulted Teen At Montco Park: DA

NORRISTOWN, PA — A Bucks County man is accused of sexually assaulting a teen girl he met online, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Jonathan Faucette, 55, of Perkasie, faces multiple felony charges related to the assault of a 15-year-old girl he met on the online chat platform Omegle.

On May 18, the New Hanover Township Police Department received a ChildLine report that the girl disclosed a sexual encounter with an older, married man. An investigation found that Faucette and the girl met on Omegle, a service that randomly pairs users in one-on-one chat sessions where they communicate anonymously, officials said. Faucette then began messaging her on Instagram under the name "bigwhale1066".

On May 7, they agreed to meet at a New Hanover Township Park, where Faucette sexually assaulted the girl "through intercourse as well as other sex acts," the DA's office said in a news release.

Police served search warrants on Facebook for the records related to the Instagram account, which provided IP addresses for the account from Comcast and Verizon. The two accounts were then traced to Faucette's home in Perkasie. A search of his home uncovered the blue blanket as well as other evidence consistent with the victim's account of the assault, authorities said.

“The online world is a serious threat to young girls and boys since its anonymity makes it
attractive to sexual predators," District Attorney Kevin Steele said. "This defendant was preying on young girls on a website/app called Omegle, which markets itself as ‘Talk to Strangers! There are some very cool people in the world.'

"Omegle has come under fire before for not verifying the ages of any user or monitoring the communications on its platform as it matches users with random strangers to have one-on-one chats. Parents need to make sure they talk to their kids about the dangers in using this kind of a platform, how people can lie about who they are and above all, the danger of meeting someone in real life who they have only talked to online. Stranger danger is real online,” he added.

Faucette was charged with felony statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors, criminal use of communications facility and other related charges.

He was arraigned before Judge Henry Nesbitt III, who set bail at $500,000, with additional conditions of no contact with the victim or other teens and no Internet usage.

Faucette was unable to post bail and was taken to Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 27.

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