HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against a 42-year-old Franklin County man who had explicit conversations online with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, then arranged to, and attempted to, meet the “girl” in Harrisburg.
Bobby Clarke Rossell was arrested last week when he attempted to meet the “girl” — who was actually an undercover agent — at the arranged location.
Rossell is charged with 12 offenses (ten felonies), including criminal solicitation and unlawful contact with a minor. Bail was set at $500,000 cash, and was not immediately posted.
”This defendant believed he had found a middle school-aged child via an anonymous chat app, and made every attempt to meet the child for sexual abuse,” Attorney General Sunday said. “This could have been another horrific story of child abuse perpetrated online, if not for the great work of law enforcement who proactively caught this predator just in time.”
Rossell was interacting with the “girl” on a chat app which allows users to communicate anonymously without creating an account with identifying information.
Rossell had lewd conversations with the “girl” and sent nude photographs to the “girl.” According to investigators, Rossell was fully aware of the “girl’s” age, and he continued to communicate with her and make sexual comments and advances, telling the “girl” he would “love to be [her] boyfriend.”
The case will be prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General Child Predator Section. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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