Cristini

A Clearfield County man is behind bars with bail denied after having sexually explicit conversations with who he believed were three underage girls and made plans to meet up and have sex with them.

Falls Creek resident Nicholas Allen Cristini, 28, was arraigned Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge Andrew L. Blattenberger on single felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offenses, sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication facility. Cristini was remanded to the Blair County Prison with bail denied because “no amount of bail or set of conditions can reasonably ensure” public safety, online court documents state.

A detective with the Logan Township Police Department was contacted by the 814PredHunter group on Jan. 21 about an individual, later identified as Cristini, being in contact with one of their decoys posing as a 15-year-old girl. While talking to the decoy, Cristini asked to talk to who he thought was her 13-year-old friend. The detective then told the decoy to start a group text conversation with Cristini, the detective posing as the 13-year-old friend, the initial 15-year-old decoy and another 15-year-old decoy, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

In the group conversation, Cristini sent a picture of himself and the detective was able to confirm his identity by cross referencing it with Cristini’s driver’s license photo. Throughout the group text conversation, Cristini and the decoys discussed each other’s ages, drinking alcohol and sexually explicit topics. Cristini and the three decoys also discussed and planned a day where they would meet up at one of the decoy’s aunt’s home, where the decoy would be housesitting, so they could take turns having sex. When the day came, Cristini said he couldn’t get off work, the police report states.

In a private chat with just the detective acting as the 13-year-old girl, Cristini repeatedly told them that they had to earn his trust by sending him nude photographs of themselves. The detective asked Cristini if he was “sure me being 13 is ok?” to which Cristini replied “It’s hot. I was in high school when you were born,” the report states.

In further conversation, the detective mentions having a 6- and 11-year-old little sister to see if Cristini would show an interest in them. Cristini asked the detective if the 11-year-old sister would join in on the sexual acts with the three decoys. He continued to ask about the sister throughout the rest of the investigation, including telling the detective how they could help him gain her trust and “get her comfortable” with him, according to the affidavit.

One of the 15-year-old decoys then reached out to the detective to say they were also having a private conversation with Cristini, in which Cristini instructed them to physically hold down the detective’s decoy so Cristini could have sex with them, the report states.

Cristini further made plans with the detective acting as a 13-year-old girl, saying he would pick her up after a gymnastics class in Altoona so they could have sex in his car. The night before the planned meet-up, Cristini told the detective he was not feeling well and didn’t think he was going to be able to pick them up. The detective noted Cristini was already suspicious of “pedophile hunters” and of meeting up with the decoy. Cristini had also acknowledged in his conversations with the decoy that what he was doing was illegal and admitted getting caught was “always on his mind.” The last line of text communication between the decoy and Cristini promised they would meet, but Cristini wanted to do more video chatting until he felt better, court documents state.

Cristini is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Feb. 19 in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew Dunio.