LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Police have accused a 30-year-old Lancaster County man of having explicit online conversations and exchanging nude pictures and videos with a Kansas girl that he knew to be 13 years old.
Gerald Clark Schnader, of East Earl, is charged with statutory sexual assault, sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communication facility, obscene and other sexual materials and performances, unlawful contact with a minor, and corruption of minors, according to East Earl Township Police, who began investigating in August 2019 when they were contacted by authorities in Wichita, Kansas.
According to the criminal complaint affidavit, Wichita police contacted investigators from East Earl Township for assistance in an investigation involving a 14-year-old girl who had disseminated nude images and videos of herself engaged in sexual activities to several men across the U.S., one of whom was believed to be Schnader.
Police say that on March 10, 2019, Schnader and the girl, who was then 13, engaged in extensively explicit conversations via Facebook Messenger. The conversation included the exchange of several nude photos and videos of the girl engaged in various sexual acts. Schnader allegedly sent the girl a picture of his penis and several videos, which appeared to depict him masturbating, according to police.
Authorities traced the Facebook profiles involved in the conversation to the victim and Schnader, according to the complaint.
Police say that, based on the text exchanges between the victim and Schnader, he was aware of her age at the time of the conversation. Schnader allegedly told the victim several times that he wanted to have sex with her, police allege.
Based on the photo in Schnader's Facebook profile and his driver's license photo, police determined he was the suspect in the case, according to the complaint.
Police say they searched Schnader's East Earl residence on Jan. 30, and retrieved several electronic items from his bedroom for analysis.
On Feb. 7, results of the analysis of those items determined Schnader was in possession of 54 images of suspected child pornography, police say.
