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A Centre County journalist has been denied bail after being accused of unlawful contact with a minor when he was a coach for a youth soccer team more than a dozen years ago.
According to a news release from Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna, Christopher Z. Morelli, 54, was arrested Friday morning on a criminal complaint charging him with solicitation to commit the crime of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors. Bail has been denied and he was remanded to the Centre County Correctional Facility.
Morelli of Pleasant Gap was arrested Dec. 20 after attempting to arrange meetings with a 14-year-old girl, who was actually an undercover FBI agent, according to court documents.
After that case was made public and Morelli was charged, Spring Cove Township police were contacted by a female who reported she was victimized by Morelli in the fall of 2011, when she was 14 years old. Morelli would have been 42 years old at the time, police reported.
The victim provided Facebook messages of her communications with Morelli and stated that she met Morelli through her youth soccer team. He was one of the coaches, the victim told police. Police were able to verify the information supplied by the victim, the report states.
The victim told police she went to Morelli's home in September 2011 and while there, he provided her and her friend with alcohol and they went swimming together. She was able to describe the house and pool, which police also verified, court documents state.
Shortly after the pool incident, the victim said Morelli messaged her about skipping school to hang out and talked about having sexual contact. She was able to share those messages with police, the report states. The victim stopped talking to Morelli after the conversations became more inappropriate, police stated.
Morelli was arraigned on felony charges of criminal solicitation and corruption of minors. Online court documents state bail was denied due to "community safety." He had been out of jail after posting bail in the December case.
Morelli is a journalist and is editor of the Centre County Gazette, where he had been suspended after the December arrest.