Clarion Man Charged With Exchanging Explicit Photos, Videos With Underage Girl Held for Court

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published June 11, 2021 4:28 am
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VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — A Clarion man was held for court on Wednesday on charges related to allegations that he exchanged sexually explicit photos, videos, and messages with an underage girl.

Court documents indicate the following charges against 20-year-old Donald Cody Dunkle were held for court on June 9:

– Photograph/Film/Depict on Computer Sex Act — Knowingly or Permitting Child, Felony 2 (17 counts)
– Contact/Communicate With Minor-Sexual Abuse, Felony 2
– Child Pornography, Felony 3 (51 counts)
– Corruption of Minors, Misdemeanor 1

The charges have been transferred to the Venango County Court of Common Pleas.

Dunkle remains lodged in the Venango County Jail with bail denied due to being a flight/safety risk, according to the court documents.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred earlier this year in Plum Township, Venango County.

Details of the case:

According to a criminal complaint, on April 21, a known woman brought a juvenile female victim to the Franklin-based State Police to report inappropriate sexual contact via media sharing with Donald Dunkle.

According to the complaint, the woman told police she had contacted Dunkle, and he had admitted to sharing sexual content with the victim. The woman then advised Dunkle to cease communication with the victim or she was going to report him to police.

Their conversation was documented in text and was provided to police, the complaint notes.

The woman then discovered Dunkle continued the inappropriate contact with the victim through a different telephone number. The woman reportedly told police she had taken the victim’s cell phone and had discovered that the victim received an iPhone from a friend that she had been using to continue communication with Dunkle.

Police then interviewed the victim, who reportedly stated she had known Dunkle since she was approximately eight years old, and they had begun talking again via text message and social media in the fall of 2020.

The victim told police she and Dunkle soon “realized they both liked each other more than just friends” and began considering themselves to be in a relationship in December 2020, although they have not seen each other in person in years, according to the complaint.

In addition, the victim said that she began exchanging nude photos with Dunkle sometime in January or February. The victim reported she sent Dunkle “a lot more” photos than he sent her, estimating she sent around 100 photos and 15 videos, mostly via Snapchat, but a few through text messages and Facebook Messenger. The victim noted the photos included photos of her breasts and genitals, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, the victim also told police they also exchanged “clips” (short videos) of them each performing sex acts on themselves via Snapchat. The victim also reported that she Facetimed (video called) Dunkle on at least one occasion and she was nude for the conversation.

The complaint stated that the victim told police Dunkle would ask her for nude photos and videos. She also said there was a photo of Dunkle’s genitals on her phone then signed a consent to search and provided the passcode to her phone and gave consent to search her other phone, as well. She reportedly noted she did not have any nude photos of herself on the phone because she deleted them.

Police then searched the phones and found several photos and messages from Dunkle, including a photo of a man’s genitals which the victim said was of Dunkle.

Police also did a preservation request for the Snapchat names provided by the victim and contacted a special agent with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command Section in Fort Benning, Georgia, where Dunkle was confirmed to be stationed at the time.

Dunkle’s phone was then seized and he was interviewed.

According to the complaint, an initial search found Dunkle’s phone contained several nude images of the victim.

The complaint states Dunkle also confessed to exchanging nude photos and videos with the victim when questioned.

On Dunkle’s phone, police found 51 nude images of the victim and 17 nude videos of the victim sent between the dates of January 15 and April 16. They also found messages of a sexual nature and messages in which Dunkle asked for sexual photos and videos from the victim, according to the complaint.

During an interview, Dunkle reportedly admitted that he hadn’t seen the victim in person in approximately five years and ended up seeking with her via FaceTime prior to beginning a “relationship” with her. He told investigators the “sexting” then began about a month prior to his interview and said he “messed up.”

According to the complaint, when confronted about the victim’s age, Dunkle admitted he knew the victim was underage at the time they began exchanging messages and said the known woman had contacted him in March and told him to wait until the victim turned 18.

The complaint also noted that Dunkle told investigators he and the victim had a relationship and didn’t just talk about sex, going on to indicate they talked via text, FaceTime, Snapchat, email, and Instagram.

Dunkle also reportedly admitted that he “knew it was wrong” to exchange photos and messages of a sexual nature due to the victim’s age.

The Franklin-based State Police filed the charges against Dunkle through Magisterial District Judge Andrew F. Fish’s office on May 10.

EDITOR’S NOTE 1: Extreme graphic details were not included due to the sexual nature of the alleged crimes.

EDITOR’S NOTE 2: Several details were removed from this article to help protect the identity of the victims.

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