VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — A sexually violent predator who is on the Pennsylvania Megan’s Law list of offenders will be sentenced today for attempting to lure a young girl with french fries at McDonald’s in Cranberry Township.
Court documents indicate 37-year-old Daniel Ray Kelly Jr., of Oil City, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Robert L. Boyer at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31, at the Venango County Courthouse, on the following charges:
– Corruption Of Minors, Misdemeanor 1 (two counts)
– Theft From A Motor Vehicle, Misdemeanor 3
Court documents indicate Kelly pleaded guilty to the above charges on January 21, 2020.
The charges stem from an incident that occurred at the McDonald’s in Cranberry Township, Venango County, in June 2019.
Details of the case:
According to a criminal complaint, around 1:10 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, 2019, Corporal Johnson, of the Franklin-based State Police, responded to McDonald’s in Cranberry Township after a witness reported seeing a male inside the restaurant trying to lure a young juvenile girl with french fries.
The witness described the male’s vehicle as a white Ford F-150 with no bed. The witness also took a photograph of the truck and the suspect to show to police.
When the troopers arrived at the scene, the suspect and his vehicle were no longer there but were discovered a short time later parked at a nearby business with the suspect standing outside the vehicle.
The complaint notes that upon running the vehicle tag, the vehicle owner/suspect was identified as Daniel Ray Kelly Jr., who is registered on the Megan’s Law Registry as a Sexually Violent Predator and is on probation.
According to the complaint, when Corporal Johnson contacted the witness again, by phone, the witness gave specific details of Kelly purchasing french fries, sitting down at a table with his fries, and then having a young female (approximately six to nine years old) sit down at a table approximately four seats away while the adults she arrived with were in line ordering food. The witness stated Kelly attempted to lure the young girl to his table by holding up french fries, motioning for her to come over, and the girl shook her head no. The witness said Kelly then pointed at her and motioned with his right pointer and middle finger for her to come to him. The witness indicated Kelly’s gestures appeared to make the young girl uncomfortable and related that she got up and walked back to the register area to wait with the adults she arrived with.
The complaint notes that a video and audio recorded police interview was conducted with Kelly around 3:06 p.m. on Saturday, June 1.
According to the complaint, Kelly initially admitted to being at McDonald’s but initially denied attempting to lure the young girl with french fries. When asked if he still had his receipt for McDonald’s, Kelly said he thought it was in his truck, but wasn’t sure where, and gave his consent for troopers to enter his vehicle to retrieve the receipt.
The complaint notes that while looking for the receipt, a Venango County Court Supervision fuel credit card was found in the driver’s compartment area of Kelly’s vehicle.
When questioned about the card, Kelly allegedly admitted to stealing it from a county vehicle on Friday, May 31, while completing his community service hours cleaning county vehicles.
According to the complaint, Kelly also eventually admitted to trying to lure the young girl in McDonald’s with french fries, as reported by the witness.
Two electronic devices, including a black Verizon flip phone and a black tablet, were also observed in plain view in Kelly’s vehicle, and Kelly also admitted to recently (within the last week) using the tablet to view both adult and child pornography videos, relating the depicted minors to be ages 16 and up, according to the complaint.
Kelly was taken into custody and transported to the Franklin-based State Police barracks where he was positively identified by the witness.
Kelly was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Patrick E. Lowrey at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, June 5.
Kelly’s registration on PA Megan’s Law list of offenders began on April 8, 2015.
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