SMETHPORT — Former Bradford man Aaron Davis was convicted at trial in McKean County Court of 84 counts relating to sending explicit materials to a minor and possessing child pornography.
He was acquitted of 8 additional counts, said District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer.
Davis, 29, of Oswayo, faced charges in three separate cases, all filed by Bradford City Police. The cases were consolidated for trial, which was held Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to Shaffer, the investigation began with a report on April 22, 2021, to Bradford City Police Officer Matthew Gustin that Davis had inquired about a young girl from her adult relative and asked the adult relative for the child’s telephone number.
The adult relative reported that she gave Davis the telephone number of the child’s mother but told Davis it was the child’s telephone number. The child’s mother testified that she began receiving messages from Davis the day before, where Davis said he knew the “child” was 13 or 14 and admitted that he was 28 years old. When the messages from Davis began to be sexually provocative, the mother contacted Bradford City Police, Shaffer said.
Gustin intercepted the communication, assumed the identity of the child, and continued the communication with Davis, who continued to send sexually provocative texts, along with two pictures of his genitalia and a video of his genitalia. Officer Shelby Walters also interacted with Davis and assumed the identity of the child, Shaffer said.
Gustin charged Davis with three counts each of unlawful contact — obscene material and unlawful contact — open lewdness, all third-degree felonies.
Davis was convicted at trial of all six counts.
In a separate investigation, Bradford City Police Officer Tony Lama was advised that a student reported to a school resource officer her concerns about Davis’ contact with younger students at Fretz. Lama located a 12 year old female who had received more than 25 images and videos from Davis after he began contact with her over Snapchat. The images and video showed male genitalia and explicit conduct, Shaffer said. The child was offered a cell phone in exchange for sending pictures to Davis and the child met with Davis in a parking lot where she was given the phone by Davis. Police obtained the phone from the victim and observed the images and video the child had received.
Lama recognized the residence where Davis was located when he took the sexually explicit photos he sent to the child, Shaffer said, and he knew Davis was staying there. Lama obtained a search warrant for that residence and obtained photographs showing the room he recognized from the photographs sent to the child.
At trial, Lama testified to the identifying marks in the bathtub shown in the photos Davis sent to the child and showed how they matched the identifying marks in the bathtub at the residence. Lama identified numerous other images of explicit content that had been sent to the child by Davis, Shaffer said.
He charged Davis with 25 counts each of sending obscene and other sexual materials to a minor, third-degree felonies; unlawful contact with a minor, third-degree felonies; and corruption of minors, first-degree misdemeanors.
Davis was convicted of all the charges in this case, Shaffer said.
In a third investigation, Sgt. Seth Shephard filed a separate complaint against Davis. The jury acquitted him of these eight counts.
Additional counts had been added to ones Davis had been facing in the prior cases. Shaffer explained that when Lama further analyzed Davis’ cell phone, he was able to identify several images of a 15-year-old female that showed her in a state of nudity or state of undress, some of which were modified where a picture of the child was overlapped with a picture of male genitalia in such a way so as to depict illicit sexual conduct.
Lama filed an additional complaint charging Davis with child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication device, all third-degree felonies. Because this was part of the same criminal episode of the previously-filed complaints that were scheduled for trial, Shaffer added these offenses to the case already pending.
In all, the jury convicted Davis of 32 counts of unlawful contact with a minor, third-degree felonies; 25 counts of sending obscene and other sexual materials to a minor, third-degree felonies; one count of child pornography, a third-degree felony; criminal use of a communication device, a third-degree felony; and 25 counts of corruption of minors, first-degree misdemeanors.
Davis is currently serving a sentence of 20 months to 40 months for a charge of Failing to Comply with Registration Requirements as required by the law formerly known as Megan’s Law, which is a law that requires individuals who have a conviction for certain sex offenses to provide and update their information to the state police.
Shaffer has filed a notice to seek a higher sentence due to a particular statute in Pennsylvania that allows the District Attorney to seek a 25 year minimum sentence for an offender convicted of a crime that requires registration under the law formerly known as Megan’s Law when the offender has already been ordered to register under Megan’s Law for a prior crime.
The consolidated cases were investigated by Officer Tony Lama, Officer Matthew Gustin and Sgt. Seth Shephard of the City of Bradford Police.
Shaffer prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth.
As required by law, the judge ordered Davis’ case to be evaluated by the Sex Offender Board to determine if he should be classified as a sexually violent predator. Sentencing is scheduled for April 27.
Shaffer noted that it was the diligence, expertise, and dedication of the police officers that brought these cases together. Shaffer also credits the young woman who reported her concerns to a school resource officer.
