NARVON, Pa. — A Lancaster County man will serve up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Mervin King, 36, of Narvon, was actually communicating with an undercover police officer posing as a relative of a 14-year-old girl in an operation conducted by the Lancaster County District Attorney's Human Trafficking Task Force, according to DA Heather Adams.
After pleading guilty to two counts of patronizing a victim of human trafficking, two counts of statutory sexual assault (11 years older), corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility, and two counts of indecent assault (person less than 16), King was sentenced to a prison term of two - 10 years by Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle.
King must also register as a sex offender with Pennsylvania State Police for the rest of his life, according to Adams' office.
The Human Trafficking Task Force conducted an undercover detail in August 2023 focused on solicitation of minors online, Adams said. King responded to an online advertisement and began communicating with an undercover Human Trafficking Task Force detective, who posed as a family member to what was described to King during the conversation as a 14-year-old girl.
King agreed to pay $200 to have sex with the minor for 30 minutes, Adams said.
The undercover detective instructed King to meet at a hotel in the 400 block of North Reamstown Road in East Cocalico Township, and met with the undercover officer before entering the hotel.
King was then arrested, and he was found to be in possession of $200.63 and the cell phone used to facilitate the crime.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Amos Glick filed charges.
