Sex charges filed against man
Level three and level five felony charges for vicarious sexual gratification against Joseph J. Melcher, 42, rural Decatur, were filed in Adams County Circuit Court Friday by Adams County Prosecuting Attorney Jeremy Brown.
The investigation into the case was started by Detective Dave Bonacquisti (now retired) of the Warminster Township Police Department of Warminster, Pennsylvania, as the victim, then 12 years-old, was a resident of that town. The detective was alerted about the situation by the mother of the 12 year-old who discovered explicit videos, photos, and messages on her daughter’s phone.
The mother’s fiance called the phone numbers sending the messages to the girl and said the person answering the phone sounded like an older man and when confronted about them, the man hung up. Police said their were two phone numbers associated with the messages and both were associated with the suspect.
Forensic interviews were done in Pennsylvania in February of this year and by this time, the victim had turned 13. She said she met people on an app called “Wink,” describing it as a “Tinder” website for young people. She would meet people here and then communicate with them on other apps such as Instagram, Tik Tok, and Snap Chat.
The victim said her mother found the conversations and photographs between her and a person called “Jay” while she was setting up for a new phone. Melcher had allegedly told the young girl he was 17 but then later admitted to actually being 24. Melcher eventually began to send her pictures of himself in
the shower and and then of other body parts. He asked her to send nude photos of herself which she allegedly did and then asked for videos of her touching herself and other sexual parts of her body. She also admitted to doing this.
The defendant further asked for more involved videos including a dog touching private parts of her body. The victim said she was reluctant to do so but eventually did.
In April or May of 2023, Melcher supposedly asked her to come visit him in person and would provide her with money for a plane ticket. The girl said she never met with the man in person.
With Melcher living in rural Decatur, the Warminster Police Department asked for the Decatur Police Department’s help in the investigation. The case was originally worked on
by Detective Larry Butler but as he retired, the matter was reassigned to Detective Ty Hanni who had access to material from Pennsylvania and Butler.
Voluntary written consent from Melcher was received by police to have his Apple iPhone searched and messages between the victim and defendant were found which clearly show Melcher knew the girl was only 12 years old when they started talking, a time when he was over the age of 18.
As a result of the investigation, the level three felony charge for vicarious sexual gratification was for Melcher’s having knowingly or intentionally directed and induced the victim to engage in sexual conduct with an animal when she was under the age of 14.. The level five felony of the same charge was for knowingly or intentionally directing the victim to fondle or touch herself.