Facebook sex chat leads to arrest of Albrightsville man

Posted Mar. 19, 2015 at 2:30 PM
Updated Mar 23, 2015 at 8:38 AM

Pocono Mountain Regional Police have charged James Hood, 20, of Albrightsville, with asking a 13-year-old girl he met on Facebook for sex.

Hood was arraigned Thursday on felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor, corrupting a minor and criminally using a communication facility. He was placed in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bail and will appear in district court at a future date.

A Monroe County resident contacted police Tuesday and reported having discovered communications between her 13-year-old daughter and a man later identified as Hood.

The resident said Hood told her daughter he wanted her to have his baby, an affidavit states. She said her daughter had stayed home from school March 13 to meet Hood in person, but that he never showed up.

Police on Tuesday interviewed the girl, who said she had met Hood online a few months prior and began talking to him. She identified Hood by name.

The girl said Hood had asked her for sex and that there had been "sexual communications" between them via cellphone and social media, the affidavit states.

She said Hood on several occasions had asked to meet her in person at locations including her school bus stop, but that he never showed. She said he once told her he couldn't come because he had locked his keys in his car.

Police reviewed Hood's communications with the girl and saw his requests for her to perform sex acts with him, the affidavit states.

Police executed a search warrant Wednesday at Hood's Mountain Road home in Tunkhannock Township and seized computers and cellphones as evidence. Present at the time, Hood was read his Miranda rights and admitted he had communicated with the girl and asked her for sex.