Greencastle man arrested by Child Predator Unit

Diaz

A Greencastle man was arrested Sept. 28 on charges of unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility. Daniel Diaz, 32, 3300 Waynecastle Road, allegedly used Internet chat rooms and online message services to send sexually explicit photos or video to who he believed was a young girl.

Both charges are third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announced that agents from his office arrested three men last week, including a benefits analyst from Pittsburgh, a college student from Altoona, and Diaz.

The girls the men contacted were actually undercover agents using the online profiles of children.

Diaz was arrested at his home by agents from the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit, assisted by Pennsylvania State Police. Agents also seized two computers from his home, which will be analyzed by the Attorney General's Computer Forensics Unit as part of a continuing investigation.

He was preliminarily arraigned before Greencastle Magisterial District Judge Duane Cunningham and placed in the Franklin County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail. Diaz was also ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors and prohibited from using the Internet. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2 in Franklin County Central Court.

Corbett said that Diaz initially made contact with an undercover agent on Aug. 1, using an online chat room for teens. At that time, the agent was posing as a 13-year old girl. According to the criminal charges, Diaz quickly asked the girl to engage in a private online conversation and suggested sending her nude webcam images.

Corbett said that later the same day, Diaz allegedly used an instant message service to once again contact the girl, expressing his desire to meet her for sex. Diaz also allegedly sent the girl a webcam video of himself engaging in sexual activity.

According to court documents, the undercover agent was working from a computer in Harrisburg. Diaz' first contact was at the site www.teenchat.com. The two later switched to Yahoo Instant Messenger.

"It is important for parents and children to understand that predators are actively using Internet chat rooms to seek out young victims - often sending nude photos or videos during their initial chats," Corbett said. "The Attorney General's Child Predator Unit was specifically created to identify and capture these predators before they can harm kids, and we are dedicated to carrying out that mission - to date, the unit has arrested 96 predators from Pennsylvania and several other states."

Diaz will be prosecuted in Franklin County by Deputy Attorney General Michael A. Sprow, of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit. Corbett thanked the Pennsylvania State Police, Chambersburg barracks, for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.