A Butler man was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison Thursday, Jan. 8, in Butler County Common Pleas Court for various sex crimes involving a teen female.

Gary Paul McCarl Sr., 33, pleaded guilty to 10 counts, which included unlawful contact with a minor and disseminating child pornography.

McCarl will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

McCarl originally faced 64 charges before agreeing to a negotiated plea. He will now serve 53 to 120 months in prison, plus 60 months of probation, for the first five counts, which stemmed from a December 2024 arrest in which he was charged with unlawful contact with a 14-year-old.

He also will serve five to 10 years in prison, plus 10 years of probation, for counts 22 through 26, which included charges of disseminating child pornography.

He was sentenced by Judge Joseph Kubit.

At the sentencing, Brenda Manno, a PennWest professor who serves on the state’s Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, testified for the prosecution that McCarl’s long-term behavior and history of offenses makes him a sexually violent predator.

McCarl was found by the court to be a violent sexual predator who is likely to be a reoffender.

The offenses occurred in the early months of 2023. McCarl was arrested by the Butler Township Police Department in December 2024. He had exchanged nude photos with a 14-year-old girl in Butler Township, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

When police interviewed the girl days after receiving an anoymous tip in early 2023, she told them she met McCarl at the Butler Carved in Ice Festivalin February, and described him as a family friend. Within the next two days, McCarl began hanging out at her house, according to the affidavit from December 2024.

McCarl used Snapchat and other social media platforms to tell her he loved her and to send her sexually inappropriate pictures and videos performing sexual acts on himself, according to the affidavit.

The teen allowed police officers to examine her Snapchat conversations, and McCarl was visible in the background of photos he sent her, the affidavit stated. At the time, the officer also said he saw pictures of a ring in the conversations, as McCarl proposed to her.

In April 2023, District Judge Kevin O’Donnell approved a search warrant for a Snapchat username requesting IP address information from the app.

The IP address information was provided May 3, and the account was linked to more pornographic pictures and videos sent by McCarl.

On May 30, 2023, search warrant results were received regarding the location of the IP address, linking it to McCarl’s home address in Butler.