Undercover Sex Sting Montco Defendant Was Minister In Dauphin County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — One of five men recently snagged in an undercover operation to catch online child sex predators had worked as a church minister in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, according to investigators.

David Kohlmeier, 46, of Devon, Chester County, was arrested last week along with four other southeastern Pennsylvania men and accused of trying to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old boy for sex.

Montgomery County prosecutors said the men were caught up in a sting carried out by investigators who were looking on social media for child sex predators.

According to police charging documents, Kohlmeier, when interviewed by investigators, said he had recently moved to Pennsylvania with his husband and two children in order for the husband to attend a school in Philadelphia.

Around the same time, Kohlmeier accepted a position as a minister with the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint also says that Kohlmeier told detectives that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was living in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and had used the social media app Grindr to communicate with a 16-year-old male.

"Kohlmeier met with the 16-year-old male and the two 'kissed and did other things.' When asked what 'did other things' mean, Kohlmeier stated that he could not remember," the criminal complaint states. "Kohlmeier did describe the male as being foreign, who did not speak English."

Investigators said Kohlmeier was taken into custody after attempting to meet up with the fictitious teenager who was actually an undercover detective.

He was arrested by members of a surveillance team at the meetup location in Conshohocken.

Police documents show that Kohlmeier had been messaging with the undercover investigator at the time the two were attempting to meet up.

Kohlmeier was arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with felony contact with a minor-sexual offense, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted statutory sexual assault, attempted aggravated indecent assault and criminal use of a communications facility, along with related misdemeanor counts.

He was released from custody after posting 10 percent of $99,999 bail.

A preliminary hearing had originally been scheduled for Wednesday, but it has since been moved to Oct. 26, according to the criminal docket sheet in the case.