HARRISBURG – Agents from the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit have filed a series of criminal charges related to child pornography against a Butler man who was initially arrested in September 2007, after allegedly using an Internet chat room to arrange a sexual encounter with what he believed was a 13-year old girl. The girl was actually an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit.
Corbett identified the defendant as Michael Douglas Hall, 25 of Butler.
Corbett explained that following Hall’s September arrest by the Child Predator Unit, agents executed a search of his home, seizing two computers. An analysis of those computers by the Attorney General’s Computer Forensics Unit revealed four video files which medical examiners identified as suspected illegal child pornography – specifically, a female child less than 18 years old engaging in sex acts with an adult male.
Based on the forensic and medical analysis of those files, Hall has been charged with four counts of sexual abuse of children (possession of child pornography), along with one count of unlawful contact with a minor (related to sexual abuse of children) and one count of criminal use of a computer. All of those charges are third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.
Hall was arrested on the new charges on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, and arraigned via video link before Chicora Magisterial District Judge Louis Stoughton. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 29, 2008, at 1:15 p.m., before Magisterial District Judge Stoughton.
Hall remains lodged in the Butler County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail related to his initial arrest, along with an additional $1,000 cash bail as the result of the new charges.
Hall is currently awaiting trial in Butler County on the original charges, filed in September 2007, which relate to sexually propositioning an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit, along with arranging to meet the agent for sex.
In the September 2007 case, Hall allegedly used an Internet chat room to sexually proposition what he believed was a 13-year old girl. During Hall’s initial chat, he told the girl that he worked at a Chuck E. Cheese children’s restaurant located near a shopping mall in Butler County, and encouraged the girl to meet him at the mall.
Corbett said that Hall allegedly told the undercover agent that he had engaged in sex with other girls, and offered to “teach” her about sex — describing in graphic detail the sex acts he wished to engage in. He was arrested when he arrived at a pre-determined meeting place in Butler County.
As the result of that investigation, Hall was charged with two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, both first-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, along with one count of criminal use of a computer, a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Hall will be prosecuted in Butler County by Deputy Attorney General William F. Caye of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit.
Corbett said that at the time of his initial arrest, Hall was the 92nd Internet predator arrest by the Child Predator Unit. To date, the unit has arrested 117 predators from throughout Pennsylvania and several other states and has a 100% conviction rate.
Internet safety tips, along with information for parents, children and teachers, is available on the “Operation Safe Surf” and “Just for Kids” sections of the Attorney General’s website.