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HUNLOCK TWP. — Luzerne County detectives charged a Hunlock Township man with sharing sexually explicit materials with a teen girl.
Max L. Emel III, 31, of Gray Road, surrendered with his attorney, Matthew T. Muchler, on a single count of display obscene sexual materials. He was arraigned by District Judge Joseph Spagnuolo Jr. in Plains Township and released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
According to the criminal complaint:
Det. Charles Balogh, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the state police Northeast Computer Crime Unit, investigated a Cyber Tip submitted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tip alleged two images and a video were shared via Facebook Messenger between the teen girl and Emel, the complaint says.
The girl admitted, according to the complaint, she sent several semi-nude and nude images and videos to Max Emel, and claimed Emel sent her nude images and videos of himself.
She claimed Emel requested she send him nude images and videos, the complaint says.
During an interview with Emel, he claimed met the girl in January 2021 and was aware of her age when they began chatting via Facebook Messenger in March or April 2021. He allegedly admitted to chatting with the girl in a sexual manner and sending videos of himself performing a lewd sexual act.
Emel said he was aware he could get in trouble and deleted entire chats with the girl only to resume chatting with her, the complaint says.
Since Emel was represented by an attorney at the preliminary arraignment, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing sending the charge to county court.