Police: Man had sex with minor
ALLEGHENY TWP — A Clarion County man was arrested Monday on charges he had sex with a 15 -year-old girl in a parked car near her home in the township.
Before the tryst, state police said, Anthony Painter, 20, of St. Petersburg and the girl swapped sexually explicit photos of one another.
District Judge Lewis Stoughton on Monday arraigned Painter on felony charges of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and possession of child pornography.
The latter charges, according to court documents, stem from him receiving naked pictures of the girl.
The defendant remains free on a $50,000 bail.
Police suspect Painter last week met the girl via Facebook Messenger. Using social media, documents said, he talked the girl into sending him nude photos and videos of herself. He allegedly sent her pictures of his private parts.
Later, he contacted her on Facebook and told her to meet him “in 10 minutes” outside her house. The girl told police that she followed his instructions, and they drove away a short distance in his car.
The two ended up on a gravel road, Painter parked the vehicle, she recounted, and they had sex.
The defendant in an interview Monday with police “denied knowing the victim or ever messaging her by any means,” documents said.
But in a police affidavit, investigators noted that the girl’s cell phone revealed several Facebook messages with Painter in which he asked her to send him sexually explicit photos and videos, and to meet him for sex in his car.
Painter could not be reached for comment.
