A Pottsville man is locked up in Schuylkill County Prison after an online sting exposed hi for soliciting a minor.
Upon arrival, officers were met by a representative from Predator Poachers, LLC, an organization that exposes online child predators. He reported that a female from the organization was posing as an 11-year-old girl online. On December 15, 2024, a conversation began between William Detwiler, 41, of Pottsville, and the girl via Facebook Messenger which continued to present day.
A transcript of the chat was provided. police observed that in one of the very first messages on December 15th, the girl told Detwiler that she was 11 years old. He responded that he was 41 years old and that "her age was great" and "in fact, I think you are sexy". Detwiler went on to send a photo of himself shirtless and says he is located in Pottsville. During the exchange of messages Detwiler sent a picture of his bare genitals and continually asked for explicit picture of the female in return.
While reviewing other Facebook messages, Pottsville Cpl. Messner noted that on January 10th, Detwiler sent a picture of his exposed genitals to a female, "Lucy", who claimed to be 14 years old.
Detwiler was taken into custody. After being read his Miranda warning, confessed to the above information acknowledging he was aware the female was 11 years old. He was charged by Corporal Messner with corruption of minors (F3), attempt and solicitation of sexual abuse of children (F3), criminal use of a communication facility (F3), and indecent exposure (M1).
Detwiler was arraigned by on-call Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer and committed to Schuylkill County Prison unable to post $25,000 straight cash bail.