An inmate at Berks County Jail in Pennsylvania was arrested for engaging in sexually explicit video chats with an 11-year-old girl using his cellmate’s electronic tablet, according to state officials.
Tyler Osborne, 30, who is currently serving time at Berks County Jail in Leesport, faces multiple sex crime charges for coercing the young girl to undress and perform sexual acts during the video chats conducted on the prison-issued device, as reported by WFMZ.
Court documents reveal that Osborne, a convicted sex offender, was prohibited from unsupervised contact with minors and using electronic devices.
“Our criminal investigation determined that the contact was… I’ll describe it as disgusting,” said Berks County District Attorney John Adams.
“This individual was asking the child to perform sexual acts on the tablet communication and the child committed those acts.”
Two of the recorded chats were discovered by investigators after Osborne’s cellmate alerted prison officials in April about the inappropriate use of the tablet to communicate with the young girl.
Osborne, previously convicted of corruption of minors and indecent assault charges, now faces charges including sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and criminal use of a communication facility.
Adams issued a warning to other inmates who might try to break the rules.
“We want to make sure that the inmates know we’re looking over their shoulder,” he said.
“So if they’re engaging in criminal or inappropriate behaviors while utilizing their tablets, we’re going to discover it and we’re going to charge them or take appropriate actions to take those tablets away from them.”
Osborne remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on June 3.
