In April 2025, three men were charged for their roles in exploiting a 13-year-old girl in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Zachary McCauley, 29, of Louisville, Kentucky is being held in his home state awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania after the Bucks County District Attorney charged him with twenty-five charges related to the human trafficking of a minor he allegedly met on Snapchat. His charges include one count of trafficking in individuals; three counts of criminal solicitation of statutory sexual assault 11 years older; three counts of criminal solicitation of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor less than 16 years of age; three counts of criminal solicitation of patronizing a victim of human trafficking; multiple counts of unlawful contact with a minor; three counts of criminal solicitation of aggravated indecent assault of a minor less than 16 years of age; three counts of sexual exploitation of children; sexual abuse of a child through photography or film and criminal solicitation of the same; dissemination of child sexual abuse material; possession of child pornography; corruption of minors; and criminal use of a communication facility.
The investigation began by Bucks County detectives in October of 2024 when the girl’s mother went to Buckingham Township Police with her daughter’s phone, iPad and MacBook. She began to be suspicious of this alleged activity when she found her daughter taking illicit photographs of herself.
McCauley allegedly met and groomed a 13-year-old on Snapchat, where he posed as a 17-year-old and solicited multiple sexually explicit photos and videos from her. Over time, McCauley allegedly coerced the girl into creating a Grindr profile, instructing her to list a false age of 18.
After the profile was created, reports indicate that her alleged trafficker arranged meetings with three men in Pennsylvania. Two of them—Randy Francis Quinn, 42, of Coopersburg, PA, and Thomas Van Ingen, 67, of Doylestown, PA—allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim. An additional sexual assault was allegedly recorded during a Snapchat video call between Quinn and McCauley. The third individual, who remains unidentified and uncharged, left shortly after discovering the girl’s age. According to reports, “it was immediately apparent that she was a child,” and the man did not engage in any sexual contact with the young girl.
Quinn is charged with two counts of statutory sexual assault; photographing or filming a child sex act; and dissemination of photos or film of child sex acts. Van Ingen is charged with one count of statutory sexual assault.
We commend the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office for acting on the mother’s report of suspicious behavior and pursuing prosecution. However, we believe additional charges remain unfiled. Under PA law, individuals who purchase sex acts from minors can be charged with human trafficking. The CSE Institute believes both Quinn and Van Ingen should be charged accordingly.
While the primary focus of human trafficking laws is on those who exploit victims through force, fraud, or coercion, Pennsylvania law also holds buyers accountable for their role in sustaining the trafficking industry. It is a felony offense to knowingly purchase sex from someone who is being trafficked, and buyers can be charged as participants in the trafficking enterprise if they knew—or should have known—that the individual was a victim. In cases involving minors, the law is even more stringent: purchasing sex from anyone under the age of 18 is considered trafficking, regardless of whether the buyer knew the person’s age or circumstances. Here both Quinn and Van Ingen engaged in sexual misconduct with a victim under the age of 18. Their patronization of the child victim is what perpetuates commercial sexual exploitation and makes them an active contributor—not just a passive consumer—to this cycle of exploitation.
It’s crucial to recognize the widespread avenues traffickers use to reach victims. The creation of social media technologies has the possibility to rapidly expand human trafficking globally as potential victims can be reached anonymously through all hours of the day. A 2021 Polaris report based on National Human Trafficking Hotline data highlights a shift in recruitment tactics. Between 2019 and 2020, traditional sites like bus stations, strip clubs, mental health facilities, and private foster homes saw significant declines. Meanwhile, Facebook saw a 125% increase in trafficking recruitment, followed closely by a nearly 95% increase on Instagram. The use of technology to assist in these crimes is far ahead of government overreach as major court decisions have shown a hesitancy to hold websites accountable for the content posted by third-party users.
Here, the alleged trafficker exploited two popular mobile apps to facilitate his crime. We must continue promoting digital literacy across all ages and hold platforms accountable for features that enable such activities.
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 the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.