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Pittsburgh Man Arrested in MySpace Sex Case

October 30, 2006

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Agents from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Child Predator Unit have arrested a Pittsburgh man accused of using the MySpace social networking website to sexually proposition a 14-year old girl. The same suspect was also charged with possessing illegal child pornography on his computer.

According to the criminal charges, Dustin Pawlicki sent a series of sexually graphic email messages to a 14-year old whom he located by browsing through personal profiles on the MySpace website.

After learning that the girl was from Allegheny County, Pawlicki allegedly proposed that they meet for the purpose of having sex.

Attorney General Tom Corbett explained that while Pawlicki was allegedly communicating online with the 14-year-old girl, he was free on bail following an earlier "Internet child sex sting" by the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

On June 14, 2006 agents arrested Pawlicki after he traveled to North Huntingdon, Westmoreland County, to have sex with an undercover agent that he believed was a 13-year old girl.

Corbett noted that as conditions for his release on bail following the June arrest, Pawlicki was specifically ordered not to have any contact a minor and not to use a computer.

According to the criminal charges, Pawlicki visited the MySpace site and contacted the 14-year old girl four times between Aug. 29 and Sept. 15, 2006. Pawlicki allegedly contacted the girl using a computer at an electronics store in the mall where he worked.

Pawlicki was charged with criminal solicitation to have unlawful contact with a minor, a second-degree felony punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $25,000 fine, along with criminal use of a computer, a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Corbett said that Pawlicki also has been charged with possession of illegal child pornography, based on a search of a computer that was seized following his June 2006 arrest.

A detailed analysis of that computer by the Attorney General's Computer Forensics Unit identified two items of suspected illegal child pornography -- both videos allegedly depicting children under the age of 18 either nude or engaging in sexual activity.

Pawlicki is charged with one count of sexual abuse of children related to the suspected child pornography discovered on his computer. That charge is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Pawlicki currently is awaiting trial on the criminal charges filed against him on June 14, 2006, including criminal solicitation of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a computer and criminal attempted obscene performances.

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