On December 23, 2024, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Nathanial Sean Deleon, 20, of Tulare, California, pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography, or child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and making a false bomb threat. These charges stem from a retaliation campaign invoked by Deleon against a minor in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
In 2023, Deleon was first investigated after making several threats to stalk and harass a 16-year-old girl from Cumberland County. According to the Justice Department, Deleon met the minor victim on the Roblox gaming platform and began an online relationship with her, which ended shortly thereafter. Between June 2023 and November 2023, Cumberland County law enforcement responded to twenty-three related “swatting incidents” at addresses throughout Cumberland County, the majority of which belonged to the minor victim. Generally, the calls included information that someone had a gun and had either killed, or was about to kill, another person. It was later revealed that these calls were made by Deleon.
Further, on November 30, 2023, Deleon, pretending to be the minor victim, informed a suicide prevention worker via a messaging application, that the victim had placed pipe bombs throughout Big Spring High School in Cumberland County. Additionally, he advised the worker that the minor victim was in a car outside of the school with a shotgun. Accordingly, approximately 650 students and staff from the school were evacuated. No bombs went off and it was later determined that there were no explosive devices inside the school.
In addition to the threats, Deleon also distributed a sexually explicit video of the minor victim in Cumberland County on November 24 and 25, 2023. As a result of these crimes, Deleon faces a maximum combined penalty of twenty-five years in federal prison, a term of supervised release following incarceration, and a fine.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania State Police as part of “Project Safe Childhood,” a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the commercial sexual exploitation and abuse of children nationwide. Through this initiative, local, state, and federal authorities unite to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.
The CSE Institute commends the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and Assistant United States Attorney David C. Williams for their commitment to prosecuting this case. The CSE Institute also applauds the efforts of the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, and all cooperating law enforcement agencies for their collaborative efforts to combat the sexual exploitation of minors.
The CSE Institute advocates for the Equality Model, which seeks to reduce the demand for commercial sex by criminalizing sex buyers and traffickers and decriminalizing prostituted people. The four pillars of the Equality Model are: (1) decriminalization of the person who is selling sex, (2) criminalization of sex buyers and facilitators, (3) educating the public about the harms of prostitution, and (4) funded, holistic exit services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates as they become available.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.