KINGSTON TWP. — A man from Mehoopany in Wyoming County surrendered Wednesday on an arrest warrant charging him with soliciting a teenage girl for sex.
Lewis Mark Matalavy, 49, is known to the teen girl as he had a prior relationship with the girl’s mother, according to court records filed by Dallas Township police.
Matalavy resided in the Country Club Apartments complex in Dallas Township when the alleged offenses occurred in June and July 2024.
According to the criminal complaint:
A woman reported to Dallas Township police of a suspicious social media app chat message on Matalavy’s cellular phone that was open when Matalavy was apparently intoxicated at a tavern in Dallas in mid-June 2024. The woman took a picture of the chat message before reporting her suspicions to police.
The chat message referred to a girl waiting for her mother to fall asleep before sneaking out of her house as Matalavy replied, “Jump out your window,” the complaint says.
Police identified Matalavy as one of the two in the chat message.
Search warrants were served to obtain online communications between the girl and Matalavy.
When confronted with the messages, Matalavy initially claimed he was keeping it “discreet” because the woman was married but later admitted the girl he was chatting with was a teenage girl, the complaint says.
Police in the complaint say online communications involved Matalavy expressing concern about the “law,” losing his freedom and going to prison, and performing sexual acts.
The girl was questioned by a forensic interviewer at the Luzerne County Children’s Advocacy Center in Wilkes-Barre.
Police included her interview in the complaint indicating she admitted to having sexual relations with Matalavy and her mother would not approve as her mother dated Matalavy.
Matalavy was arraigned by District Judge Brian Tupper in Kingston Township on charges of unlawful contact with a minor, furnishing liquor to a minor and two counts of corruption of minors. Matalavy was released on $150,000 unsecured bail.
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