STRASBURG, Pa. — A 25-year-old Coatesville man is being held in Lancaster County Prison on four felony sex offense charges filed by Strasburg Borough police after an Aug. 30 incident on South Fulton Street.
Christopher Thomas Althouse faces two counts of statutory sexual assault, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated indecent assault of a complainant younger than 16, a second-degree felony, according to his docket in the office of Magisterial District Judge William E. Benner Jr.
The listed offense date for all four counts is Aug. 30.
Officer Bryce F. Mowbray arrested Althouse that day.
Authorities filed a criminal complaint on Aug. 31 and arraigned him that morning before Magisterial District Judge John Bender, who set bail at $25,000.
Authorities committed him to Lancaster County Prison the same day, as he was unable to post bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 8 before Benner.
Prosecutors must establish a prima facie case at that hearing for the charges to be transferred to the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.
The Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office is listed as representing Althouse.
The arrest followed a confrontation staged and recorded by Predator Poachers, a private group that publishes videos of such encounters online.
Alex Rosen, who runs the group’s accounts, wrote on Facebook that the group operated in Strasburg on Aug. 29 and 30 and that a decoy had posed online as a 13-year-old girl for months before arranging a meeting.
Rosen wrote that group members approached Althouse at an apartment complex and questioned him before officers arrived.
Police have not publicly addressed that account. The department’s public arrest posting, which lists the case as a sexual assault incident, does not describe the circumstances of the alleged offenses, and police have released no further details.
No other charges had been filed as of Saturday.