DA: Men Assaulted 13-year-old Girl in Bucks Co.

A Coopersburg man is one of two people charged with statutory sexual assault and other offenses stemming from alleged sexual encounters with a 13-year-old girl; encounters authorities say were arranged by a third man who lives nearly 700 miles away.

According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office, Randy Francis Quinn, 42, met the girl through a 29-year-old Kentucky man with whom he allegedly communicated via the dating site Grindr. In addition to two counts of Felony 1 statutory sexual assault, Quinn is also charged with one count each of Felony 2 dissemination of photos or film of child sex acts and Felony 1 photographing or filming a child sex act.

Zachary Lee McCauley of Louisville, Ky., is the man accused of sex trafficking for allegedly arranging the meetings between the girl and Quinn, as well as a meeting between the girl and a third man identified by authorities as 67-year-old Jon Thomas Van Ingen of Buckingham Township, who is charged one count of Felony 1 statutory sexual assault.

McCauley is charged with one count each of trafficking in individuals, sexual exploitation of children, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility as well as three counts each of sexual abuse of children and unlawful contact with a minor. McCauley–who is in custody in Kentucky as Pennsylvania authorities work to extradite him–is also charged with solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children, solicitation to commit aggravated indecent assault, solicitation to commit patronizing victim of sexual servitude, solicitation to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and solicitation to commit statutory sexual assault. Altogether, McCauley is facing 25 felony counts in the case, according to the court docket filed in his case.

According to the district attorney’s office, an investigation by Bucks County Detectives determined that McCauley “groomed and coerced” the girl, which led to a total of three sexual encounters with Quinn and Van Ingen in October.

According to a news release published on Crimewatch, the DA’s investigation began in February and led to detectives identifying as McCauley a Snapchat user named “Jake” who “claimed to be 17 years old and was aware that the victim was 13.”

“After a few weeks of communication, McCauley solicited the victim into taking sexually explicit photos and videos, which he had her send to him through Snapchat. She initially refused, but McCauley persisted, and she eventually sent him (more than 25) images (and videos),” the release said. “During their conversations, McCauley made comments about hurting the victim’s mother, making the victim fearful that he would carry out the threat. At some point, McCauley directed the victim to create an account on the dating site Grindr and give him the login credentials. When the victim told McCauley she could not create an account because of her age, McCauley told her to lie and claim to be 18 years old.”

After allegedly uploading photos of the girl wearing lingerie to the Grindr profile and creating a fake school ID card that showed a different name and a date of birth that falsely indicated she was over the age of 18, authorities said McCauley used the account to communicate with other app users who solicited dates with her.

“When he couldn’t access the account, he would direct the victim to send him screenshots of the conversations she had with the other users so he could tell her what to say to them,” the news release said.

The DA said that in addition to the alleged encounters with Quinn and Van Ingen, there was an encounter in Bucks County with a third man that “ended when (he) became suspicious of the victim’s age.”

During one of the encounters with Quinn, police said he allegedly “was on a Snapchat video call with McCauley and the sexual assault was recorded.”

Authorities said the girl never met McCauley in person and only saw his face once when he accidentally turned on his camera during a video call on Snapchat.

“I praise the mother in this case because her instincts were correct,” District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said. “And I praise the victim in this case. She is only 13 years of age, and she is so strong and she is not to be blamed for what occurred.”

According to the docket filed in the case, a preliminary hearing for Quinn is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 24 before Judge Maggie Snow in Bucks County District Court 07-3-01 in Doylestown.

Quinn is being represented by attorney John J. Fioravanti Jr. of Doylestown, according to the docket.

Van Ingen’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for the same time and also will be held in Snow’s court. According to the docket filed in his case, he is being represented by attorney Thomas Nelson Logan of Doylestown.

According to reporting by PhillyBurbs.com that cites affidavits filed in the cases, Quinn allegedly met the girl once at a park and on another occasion at a Doylestown inn, and during an interview denied having sexual contact with her before asking detectives for a lawyer who later declined to comment on the case.

Van Ingen allegedly admitted to meeting the girl, but denied they had sex and according to his lawyer feels “horribly misled” and “terribly upset,” per the published report.

Both men are currently free on $150,000 unsecured bail each, according to court papers.

It was not immediately clear when an extradition hearing for McCauley may be held in Kentucky.

Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using information from the Bucks County District Attorney’s office and Bucks County court records.