On August 6, former State College journalist and youth soccer coach Christopher Morelli, 54, of Spring Twp., pleaded guilty to a federal charge of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution. Morelli is accused of engaging in this activity between July 2022 and October 2023. Though the details of the incident have not yet been disclosed, the federal indictment accuses Morelli of “persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing an individual under the age of 18 for prostitution or sexual activity.”
Morelli also has two cases pending in Centre County related to unlawful contact with minors. In the first case, Morelli is charged with unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility with the offense date listed as July 2023. According to the state charges, Spring Twp. Police were contacted by the FBI regarding Morelli’s involvement with an undercover agent. The agent, posing as a 14-year-old girl, allegedly began talking to Morelli on a social media platform in July 2022. According to law enforcement, Morelli told the undercover agent that he lived near Penn State and they exchanged phone numbers. Morelli allegedly requested explicit pictures from her, sent her pictures of himself, and attempted to meet the female he was aware was underage. Morelli also allegedly discussed his desire to hold a photo shoot of the minor in a hotel room, requesting specific poses and twice trying to set up a time for the shoot. Morelli purportedly continued to solicit explicit pictures from the minor as late as October 2023, and stayed in contact with the minor until December when he was arrested. Bail was set and posted in the amount of $250,000.00.
In the second case, Morelli is charged with criminal solicitation to commit statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors with the offense date listed as September 2011. According to police, after Morelli was arrested in December 2023, investigators were contacted by a female who claimed to know Morelli through her youth soccer team, and described a series of incidents that occurred with Morelli back in 2011, when she was 14 years old. The victim alleged she and a friend visited Morelli’s home to swim in his pool, and Morelli provided the two minors with alcohol. The victim then allegedly showed investigators a series of Facebook messages between her and Morelli from the fall of 2011, in which Morelli’s communications with the minor reportedly became increasingly inappropriate and sexual in nature.
“So did you have fun swimming earlier this year?” Morelli asked the minor in messages provided to law enforcement. Morelli asked questions about skipping school, asking the victim if she was a “bad girl” and saying he would not tell. In one message, Morelli asked the minor to confirm her age, which was 14 at the time. Morelli asked the victim if she had a boyfriend or had ever “messed” with a boy, and offered to “teach” her when she demonstrated her hesitancy to engage in sexual relations. According to the affidavit, Morelli suggested positions to the child claiming “first time, probably the guy on top would work best for u.” Bail was denied in this case for “community safety” reasons.
Both of these cases are still pending and scheduled for pre-trial conferences on September 16. As for the plea, Morelli faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for the federal charge of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution. The plea agreement reportedly states that the government will not bring any additional criminal charges against Morelli arising from his involvement in the incident from December 2023. Morelli will also have to register as a sex offender.
The CSE Institute applauds the efforts of the FBI, Spring Twp. Police Department, and cooperating agencies for their efforts to prosecute Morelli for his crimes against minors in our Commonwealth. However, in cases such as this, we encourage the use of the federal sex trafficking statute in addition to the current charges. Under federal law, a person is guilty of trafficking if they recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, advertise, maintain, patronize, or solicit a person for a commercial sex act. To be guilty of sex trafficking of a child, the prosecution must only prove that the defendants engaged in soliciting, enticing, harboring, obtaining, patronizing, or transporting a minor who is or will be subject to sexual servitude. Because the victim is a minor, the Government does not need to prove the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded the victim’s age, nor does the Government have to prove that anything of value was exchanged for the sex act. Under both federal and state law, any commercial sexual exploitation of minors constitutes sex trafficking because children cannot consent to be bought or sold for sex.
In this case, the federal indictment accuses Morelli of “persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing an individual under the age of 18 for prostitution or sexual activity.” While the facts of this incident have not yet been disclosed, if the Government can prove this, then a sex trafficking charge is appropriate. Adding this charge also makes it easier to prosecute offenders like Morelli, because it could increase the chances of holding sex buyers accountable for their attempts to purchase and exploit children for their sexual pleasure. Additionally, if force, fraud, or coercion can be proven, this charge may result in steeper sanctions.
We encourage prosecutors to use all relevant statutes that fit alleged criminal activity. If law enforcement and prosecutors are committed to ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children, they should use the most effective tools at their disposal by charging sex trafficking of children in addition to other relevant offenses.
The CSE Institute will provide updates on this matter 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.