A Perkasie man is headed to state prison after admitting to sexually assaulting an underage teen he met via Omegle in May 2021.
Jonathan Faucette, 56, of Perkasie, pleaded guilty last week to felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age and unlawful sexual contact with a minor. As a result of his plea, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Risa Ferman sentenced Faucette to 5-to-15-years in state prison, followed by three years’ probation.
Additional charges of statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of an instrument of crime were dropped in exchange for Faucette’s guilty pleas. An extra charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse was also dismissed at Faucette’s preliminary hearing last summer.
Sentencing notes indicate Faucette will have to register as a Tier III sex offender under Megan’s Law once he is released from prison. He is also prohibited from having contact with the victim, using social media and unsupervised contact with minors, according to court records.
Police said they received a tip on May 18, 2021, via a mandated reporter through ChildLine, stating that a girl had disclosed a sexual encounter with an older, married man. Investigators determined that the victim had met Faucette online through Omegle — an online chat platform that does not require registration and connects users with random strangers from anywhere in the world — and the two later began messaging each other through Instagram, according to the criminal complaint.
On May 7, 2021, Faucette and the victim agreed to meet in a wooded area adjacent to a New Hanover Township Park, police said. Faucette then spread a blue blanket on the ground and sexually assaulted the victim via intercourse and other sex acts, investigators said.
During the execution of a search warrant on Faucette’s home, police said they recovered the blue blanket that was used during the assault, as well as other evidence “consistent with the victim’s account of the assault.”
“The online world is a serious threat to young girls and boys, since its anonymity makes it attractive to sexual predators. This defendant was preying on young girls on a website/app called Omegle, which markets itself as ‘Talk to Strangers! There are some very cool people in the world,’” said DA Steele. “Omegle has come under fire before for not verifying the ages of any user or monitoring the communications on its platform as it matches users with random strangers to have one-on-one chats. Parents need to make sure they talk to their kids about the dangers in using this kind of a platform, how people can lie about who they are and above all, the danger of meeting someone in real life who they have only talked to online. Stranger danger is real online.”
See also:
Harleysville Man to Face Trial in Alleged Hit and Run Crash That Killed Skippack Woman
Jury Trial Scheduled for Hatfield Man Accused of Repeatedly Raping Young Girl Over Five-Year Period
Delco Man Sentenced to Jail for Indecent Contact with Underage Girl from Lansdale
Telford Man Sentenced to Jail, Probation for Stalking Female Neighbor
Montco Man Sentenced to Jail, Probation for Sexual Assault of Runaway Teen
