On April 2, authorities in Pike County, Pennsylvania charged 60-year-old Paul Christopher with criminal attempt to commit trafficking in individuals, along with multiple related offenses, following an undercover investigation targeting individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex with minors. Christopher now faces several felony charges, including criminal attempt to commit trafficking in individuals, attempted patronizing of a victim of sexual servitude, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, attempted corruption of minors and restrictions on alcoholic beverages. Bail was set at $250,000, and Christopher was remanded by the Pike County Correctional Facility.
According to information released by the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, detectives received information that Christopher was willing to travel to Pike County to engage in sex acts with a 16-year-old in exchange for payment. The investigation led to communications between Christopher and an undercover detective posing as a minor. During these exchanges, Christopher allegedly agreed to pay the minor $150 for sex and arranged to meet in person. When Christopher arrived at the designated location, he allegedly provided $150 to the undercover officer and was immediately taken into custody by law enforcement.
This investigative approach is consistent with proactive enforcement strategies frequently used in online child exploitation cases to identify and apprehend individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex with minors. Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin stated: “With our partners at the Pike County Sheriff’s Department we will continue to pursue those that would harm a child. It is quite alarming that an individual would be willing to pay to engage in sexual contact with a minor.”
Under Pennsylvania law, trafficking in individuals includes recruiting, enticing, soliciting, or obtaining a person for the purpose of engaging in a commercial sex act. When the intended victim is a minor, prosecutors are not required to establish force, fraud, or coercion. The law recognizes that minors cannot legally consent to commercial sexual activity, and therefore the act of offering payment in exchange for sexual access to a minor satisfies the statutory framework.
This case is particularly significant because it involves attempt liability rather than a completed trafficking offense. Under Pennsylvania’s attempt statute, criminal liability attaches when an individual takes a substantial step toward the commission of a crime with the intent to complete it. Here, the alleged conduct – communicating with someone believed to be a minor, negotiating payment, traveling to the meeting location, and providing money – constitutes a clear progression beyond mere preparation.
Importantly, the facts of this case illustrate how trafficking statutes operate not only to punish completed acts of exploitation, but also to intervene at earlier stages. By criminalizing attempts, the law enables law enforcement to disrupt harmful conduct before a minor is directly victimized. This preventative function is especially critical in cases involving online communications, where offenders may seek to normalize transactional sexual relationships with minors before escalating to physical encounters.
From a broader perspective, this case reflects a growing reliance on proactive investigative techniques, including undercover operations, to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children. These methods allow law enforcement to identify and prosecute the sex buyers who create demand for sexual access to minors – an essential component in addressing trafficking at its source. The CSE Institute emphasizes the importance of demand-side enforcement. Individuals who seek to purchase sexual access to minors – whether or not the act is ultimately completed – fuel a market that places vulnerable individuals at risk. Continued enforcement of trafficking and attempt statutes, combined with public awareness and community vigilance, remains essential to preventing the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The CSE Institute commends the efforts of the Pike County District Attorney’s Office and participating law enforcement agencies for their proactive approach in this investigation. Intervening before exploitation occurs not only protects potential victims but also reinforces the principle that attempts to sexually exploit children will be treated with the same seriousness as completed offenses.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
All views expressed therein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.