Earlier today Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele,Upper Merion Township Police Chief Thomas Nolan, Conshohocken Borough Police Chief Michael Orler, East Norriton Township Police Chief Karyl Kates, Abington Township Police Department Chief Patrick Molloy, Horsham Township Police Chief William J. Daly and the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force jointly announced the arrest of Donovan Early, 28, of Philadelphia; Joseph Picchi, 49, of Hammonton, N.J.; and Jonathan Uitto, 30, of Conshohocken for felony charges related to their individual attempts to use the Internet to contact minor children and have sexual relations with children.

Since the beginning of 2018, ICAC-affiliated detectives from law enforcement agencies along with members of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s Major Crimes Unit joined forces in a proactive effort to safeguard children by identifying and arresting individuals who use the Internet to contact and then arrange to have sexual relations with children.

According to the press release, each of the three men “separately engaged in extensive online and text communications with undercover detectives posing as 14-year-old girls. Each man engaged in sexually explicit, electronic communications with a person they believed was a minor child, and each shared sexually explicit photos with the purported 14-year-old female.” The arrests of Early and Picchi took place when they arrived at a meeting location in Conshohocken.

Early was arrested January 17th and charged with attempted: Statutory Sexual Assault, attempted Involuntary Deviant Sexual Intercourse with a Person Less Than 16, Unlawful Contact with a Minor, and Corruption of Minors, as well as Criminal Use of a Communication Facility. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Deborah A. Lukens, who set bail at $150,000 cash. He was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail. He waived his preliminary hearing.

Picchi was arrested January 25th and charged with attempted: Statutory Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Interference with Custody of a Child, Involuntary Deviant Sexual Intercourse with Person Less Than 16, Unlawful Contact with a Minor, and Corruption of Minors, as well as Criminal Use of a Communication Facility. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Suzan Leonard, who set bail at $75,000. He was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., February 28th in front of Magisterial District Judge Deborah A. Lukens.

Uitto was arrested February 14th and charged with attempted: Contact/Communications with a Minor with Obscene Material or Nature, Discussing Explicit Sexual Material with a Minor, and Corruption of Minors, as well as Criminal Use of a Communication Facility. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Juanita A. Price, who set bail at $100,000. He posted bail and was released. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m., March 1, 2018 in front of Magisterial District Judge Francis J. Bernhardt III.