On November 26, Jeffrey McDonald, 39, of York, was sentenced to up to five years in state prison followed by five years of probation for attempting to pay for sex with who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl in Lancaster County. McDonald’s sentence was imposed following his guilty plea to one count each of criminal attempt to patronize a victim of sexual servitude, criminal attempt to commit statutory sexual assault, and criminal attempt to commit corruption of minors.
McDonald’s convictions stem from his rendezvous with an undercover Lancaster County Human Trafficking Task Force police officer, who McDonald believed was a 14-year-old girl. The Task Force launched the operation as a targeted effort to search for individuals that pay for sexual services from juveniles. Law enforcement began looking for McDonald beginning in May 2024 after he responded to an online advertisement and agreed to pay $200 to engage in sex acts with a 14-year-old. He agreed to meet at a hotel in West Hempfield Township. Once he arrived and again confirmed the $200 transaction, McDonald was apprehended.
While the CSE Institute celebrates the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office for their decision to prosecute McDonald, we are disappointed that he has not been charged under Pennsylvania’s human trafficking statute in addition to the other charges. Under Pennsylvania law, a person is guilty of trafficking if they recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, advertise, maintain, patronize, or solicit a person who is subject to sexual servitude through the means of force, fraud or coercion. To convict someone of child sex trafficking, the prosecution only has to prove that the defendant committed one of these acts; the prosecution does not need to establish the means element. Indeed, under both federal and state law, any form of commercial sexual exploitation of minors equates to sex trafficking because minors cannot consent to being bought or sold for sexual activities.
That being said, we would have liked to see the prosecution charge McDonald with human trafficking in addition to the other offenses, because the facts demonstrate that McDonald attempted to solicit, patronize, and recruit who he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sex.
The CSE Institute applauds both the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office for prosecuting McDonald and the Lancaster County Human Trafficking Task Force for arresting and charging McDonald. The CSE Institute praises the commitment of law enforcement for their continuous efforts to combat the sexual exploitation of minors and adults through the incapacitation of Jeffrey McDonald, a sexual offender.
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.