John Dawe shown when he was arrested in April 2021.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader
John William Dawe required to register address for 25 years as a sexual offender
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WILKES-BARRE — Acknowledging many community service projects John William Dawe had undertaken and efforts at rehabilitating himself, Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Thursday sentenced the 40-year-old Kingston man to one-to-two years in jail on child pornography and engaging in a sexual act with a teenage boy.
Dawe, of West Union Street, failed to apologize to the boy while he read from a prepared statement, thanking counselors at a sexual offender treatment center and Vough for permitting him a furlough to attend the six-week in-patient center.
Dawe was arrested twice last year by Luzerne County detectives and Kingston police.
He was initially arrested April 8 on allegations of online sexual solicitation of a minor.
The investigation continued and resulted in Dawe being arrested a second time April 20 on charges of possessing sexual materials involving children and having unlawful contact with a then 16-year-old boy.
Dawe pleaded guilty to charges of child pornography, criminal solicitation to receive child pornography, and three separate counts of unlawful contact with a minor. All the offenses are third-degree felonies with each felony punishable from three to seven years in prison.
At the time of his arrest, Dawe was the proprietor of his own consulting company, John Dawe Consulting, LLC, and was involved in political campaigns. He formerly was the executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance and Equality Pennsylvania.
Dawe said his time in jail “changed his life.”
“This individual has shown extraordinary acceptance of responsibility,” Dawe’s lawyer, Jonathan Blum, said in asking for a sentence that would allow him to stay at the county correctional facility.
Vough called the charges, “Very disturbing,” and explained the reason why he granted a six-week furlough was due to Dawe’s previous community service projects.
“But you still need to be punished,” Vough said at imposing the sentence designed to keep Dawe at the county jail.
Dawe was also sentenced to seven years probation and must register his address for 25 years under the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. He was given credit for 274 days already spent at the jail.
Court records say Dawe had been having a sexual conversation online with someone whom he believed to be a 15-year-old boy, not knowing that the boy was a Kingston detective.
Investigators further alleged Dawe engaged in sexual activity with a 16-year-old boy he met in Wilkes-Barre.
Online court records say Mansfield police in Tioga County charged Dawe with child pornography in 2002, and Elkard police, Tioga County, charged Dawe with unlawful use of a computer and child pornography in 2000.
Dispositions of the cases in Tioga County could not be obtained.
