(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release today in Harrisburg from Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday’s office, Sunday announced charges against a Pittsburgh man who used an online chat platform to attempt to solicit sexual contact with a pre-teenage girl. Fifty-seven-year-old Eric T. Gillespie received four felony charges as well as multiple counts of unlawful contact with a minor and he was denied bail by a magisterial district judge at arraignment, after this judge cited public safety concerns and flight risk. Gillespie tried to make attempts to arrange a meeting with a Lebanon County pre-teenage girl after he engaged in a conversation with an Office of Attorney General agent posed as an adult in an online chat platform often utilized by offenders attempting to arrange meetings with children. Gillespie alluded to methods he accessed children during the investigation and other evidence was found regarding contact with children. The Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office assisted the Office of Attorney General in this investigation. The investigation into this incident is ongoing and anyone with information they feel law enforcement should be aware of can call the Office of Attorney General and ask for Agent Roby after calling their phone number of 800-385-1044.