Perkasie, Bucks County man charged in sex assault involving teen he met online

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Authorities in Perkasie, Bucks County have arrested and charged a man in connection with the sexual assault of a 15-year-old female he met online.

According to officials, Jonathan Faucette, 55, is charged with felony Statutory Sexual Assault, Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse, Corruption of Minors and other related offenses.

Authorities said they first received a report on May 18 that the teen had disclosed a sexual encounter involving an older, married man.

The investigation found that the teen had met Faucette through an online chat and video platform called Omegle. They began messaging through Instagram and eventually agreed to meet at a New Hanover Township park.

According to authorities, Faucette sexually assaulted the teen in the woods near the park.

"The online world is a serious threat to young girls and boys since its anonymity makes it attractive to sexual predators. This defendant was preying on young girls on a website/app called Omegle, which markets itself as 'Talk to Strangers! There are some very cool people in the world," said District Attorney Kevin Steele.

"Omegle has come under fire before for not verifying the ages of any user or monitoring the communications on its platform as it matches users with random strangers to have one-on-one chats. Parents need to make sure they talk to their kids about the dangers in using this kind of a platform, how people can lie about who they are and above all, the danger of meeting someone in real life who they have only talked to online. Stranger danger is real online."

Faucette posted a $500,000 cash bail and was ordered to remain in the county. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on July 27.