On January 22, 49, from Mehoopany, Pennsylvania was arraigned on charges of soliciting sex from a minor. The charges include unlawful contact with a minor, furnishing liquor to a minor, and two counts of corruption of minors.
The investigation began in June, when a woman reported viewing suspicious messages on an unlocked cellphone at a local Dallas tavern. She submitted images of the conversation to the police, which included messages from a young girl saying that she was waiting for her mother to fall asleep before sneaking out of her house, with the owner of the phone encouraging her to “jump out [her] window.”
After identifying him as the owner of the phone, the with photos of the exchange. originally stated that the suspicious nature of the messages were due to the woman involved being married, but he later revealed that he had been communicating with a 16-year-old. He also allegedly admitted that he had had sex with the minor multiple times. According to police, the alleged offenses took place in June and July of 2024.
Further examination of the rest of the messages between Matalavy and the minor purportedly show his awareness of the illegality of his actions, fear of legal consequences, and repeated mention of sex acts.
Matalavy reportedly knows the victim because he was previously in a relationship with the minor’s mother. In July, investigators interviewed the minor and obtained a search warrant for her diary, both of which corroborated the information contained in the chat messages. The 16-year-old was then interviewed again on September 11, at the Luzerne County Children’s Advocacy Center in Wilkes-Barre. During this interview, the minor allegedly confirmed that she had met Matalavy through his relationship with her mother, but that the two began to see each other at his home after he followed her on Instagram.
The CSE Institute commends the minor victim in this case for her courage and cooperation in the prosecution of Matalavy. As supporters of trauma-informed interviewing, the CSE Institute supports the Luzerne County Children’s Advocacy Center’s use of a child-focused approach to forensic interviewing of victims and applauds the Dallas Township police for utilizing their expertise.
Moreover, the CSE Institute commends both the woman who reported the suspicious activity to the local police and the Dallas Township Police for their thorough investigation of the situation. Holding offenders accountable not only keeps the community safer by discouraging further exploitation, but also emphasizes what
While we are pleased that Matalavy is facing charges for his offensive conduct, we would encourage law enforcement to investigate whether the facts here rise to a trafficking offense. Under Pennsylvania law, to convict a person of trafficking minors, the prosecution only needs to prove the individual recruited, enticed, solicited, patronized, advertised, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, or maintained a minor for purposes of commercial sex.
Though the facts do not indicate that anything of value was exchanged in this case, grooming children and the manipulative use of “relationships” are one of the most common ways trafficking begins. Between January 2020 and August 2022, 39% of sex trafficking victims were trafficked by an intimate partner. It is imperative that these types of situations are recognized early and prosecuted properly in order to stop the abuse and prevent future exploitation and trafficking.
His preliminary hearing, originally scheduled for February 11, was continued to March 4 and is now scheduled for April 8.
The CSE Institute will 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.