LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A Lititz man is facing up to five years in prison for attempting to have sex with a minor.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office, Jeffery Fralich, 69, pled guilty to five third-degree felonies and one second-degree felony for agreeing to pay for sex with a minor.
He was sentenced on Friday to 1.5 to five years in jail plus five years of probation.
The charges included attempted corruption of minors, solicitation to commit corruption of minors, attempted patronization of a victim of sexual servitude, solicitation to commit patronizing a victim of sexual servitude, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children.
The Lancaster County District Attorney's Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF), with the assistance of the FBI, began a detailed investigation on the solicitation of sex from minors online in 2022. Online prostitution advertisements were created.
Investigators began communicating with Fralich and posed as a family member of a 12-year-old to facilitate sex acts.
Fralich agreed to pay $400 to have sex with the minor for an hour and agreed to pay an additional $50 for unprotected sex. He also made sexual demands for when the victim was brought to him.
Investigators determined the phone number used in the communications belonged to Fralich and confirmed his residence as the home he asked the 12-year-old be brought to.
Fralich is one of nine defendants arrested in similar HTTF strings in 2022 and one of three defendants who has been convicted and sentenced.
