UPDATED: New Details Emerge About Man Accused of Being a Child Predator

Lawrence W. McElroy has served in the helping professions throughout his adult life—as a Pennsylvania State Police sergeant, a minister and a substitute teacher.

But a different picture of him emerged Tuesday when the state Attorney General's Child Predator Unit released information on how he arranged to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex on Monday, a day he thought she had a day off school because of an extended Easter vacation.

Now, he sits in Washington County Jail awaiting a May 3 preliminary hearing on several charges after arranging to meet the girl in Canonsburg. In reality, she was an undercover agent with the state Attorney General’s office who was using the online profiles of young teens.

State Attorney General's agents accused McElroy, 61, of Tologo Road in Cooperstown, Venango County, of using the Internet to sexually proposition the "girl," transmitting a nude webcam video and then traveling to the Pittsburgh area to meet the girl for sex.

McElroy was arrested by agents of the child predator unit, assisted by Canonsburg police, on Monday when he arrived at a predetermined location to meet the girl.

Following his arrest, acting Attorney General Bill Ryan said that agents obtained a warrant to search McElroy's vehicle and located a number of the gift items he had allegedly promised the girl, including a personally engraved silver necklace and a new computer webcam.  They also found a prescription pill bottle containing Viagra along with lubricant.

After executing a search warrant at McElroy's home, agents seized a computer and webcam that will be analyzed by the Attorney General's Computer Forensics Unit as part of the ongoing investigation.

McElroy is charged with one count of unlawful contact with a minor (related to sexual offenses) and one count of criminal attempted unlawful contact with a minor (related to sexual offenses), both first-degree felonies each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 fines. He also is charged with two counts of unlawful contact with a minor (related to obscene and sexual materials and performances) and one count of criminal use of a communication facility, all third-degree felonies each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.

According to the criminal complaint, McElroy used the screen name "iamtheone7890" in an Internet chat room to approach an undercover agent on April 5.  At the time, the agent was using the online profile of a 13-year old girl.

McElroy is accused of beginning a graphic conversation with the girl during that initial online chat, asking about her sexual experience and instructing her to masturbate, Ryan said.  McElroy also is accused of encouraging the girl to delete the transcript of their online conversation "so mom doesn't find it."

Over the next several days, Ryan said, McElroy engaged in a series of Internet chats with the "girl," expressing his desire to meet her for sex and explaining in extensive detail the sex acts he wished to perform with her. Ryan said McElroy offered to give the girl a computer webcam so that she could send him pictures, and offered to bring the gift to her house "someday when mom works but there is no school."

According to the criminal complaint, McElroy asked the girl if she had school vacation on the Monday following Easter, and then proposed traveling from Venango County to Canonsburg. McElroy is accused of offering to give the girl a necklace and to tell others that it was from her "bf (boyfriend) in school."

Ryan said that in the days before the meeting, McElroy sought to verify the girl's age by asking when she would have her 14th birthday.  He also is accused of discussing in detail how various state laws apply to sexual activity between adults and young teens.

McElroy also is accused of using his computer to send the girl a webcam transmission that showed him standing in front of his computer—nude from the waist down and engaging in sexual activity—and making a series of calls to what he believed was the girl's cell phone. According to the criminal complaint, at least three of those calls were made using telephones from a high school in Venango County where McElroy worked as a substitute teacher.

The charges against him contrast sharply to the careers he had as a police officer, minister and teacher. 

Mc Elroy joined the state police on Jan. 25, 1973 and retired from the Troop C, Tionesta Station on March 26, 1993, said Lt. Myra A. Taylor, director of the state police public information office.

After retiring from the state police, McElroy, took a different road and entered the ministry. He served three churches affiliated with the Kiskiminetas Presbytery, based in Yatesboro, Armstrong County.

McElroy first served as a minister with Oakwood Presbyterian Church in New Bethlehem, Clarion County, from March 1, 1992 through Dec. 31, 1995, according to the Rev. Dr. Wayne A. Yost, general presbyter.

After leaving there, McElroy continued as a minister with two Armstrong County churches—Crooked Creek Presbyterian Church in Ford City and Faith Presbyterian Church in Kittanning.

“Larry withdrew himself from the Presbyterian ministry,” Yost said. “He has not been a minister since May 1999.”

McElroy changed his career path again shortly after leaving the ministry. This time, he chose substitute teaching, working in school districts near his home.

Ronald Paranick, superintendent of Franklin Area School District in Franklin, Venango County, said McElroy started serving with his district in about 2000.

“He has worked for us as a day-to-day sub,” Paranick said.

Jeffrey Clark, superintendent of Valley Grove School District, which serves McElroy’s hometown of Cooperstown, said that to his knowledge he had not worked there. Clark said, though, that Valley Grove and other school districts in that area are provided with a list of eligible substitutes from Riverview Intermediate Unit No. 6, which serves Venango, Clarion, Jefferson and Forest counties, as well as parts of five other surrounding rural counties.

A spokesperson for the intermediate unit, who declined to be identified, confirmed that McElroy had not been employed as a substitute since February 2010.

According to feedback on the Canon-McMillan Patch story that appeared Tuesday, he also might have been a substitute in the Cranberry Area School District, Venango County. Superintendent Maria Pappas, who responded to Patch by email, said she had been in her post only nine months and did not recognize the name.

McElroy was preliminarily arraigned on Monday before Canonsburg Magisterial District Judge David W. Mark, who set bail at $250,000. According to a criminal docket for Mark's office, McElroy failed to post the bail.

McElroy also is prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with minors and is prohibited from access the Internet.  A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 3, at 1:30 p.m., in Mark's courtroom.

McElroy will be prosecuted in Washington County by Senior Deputy Attorney General William F. Caye II of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

Ryan said the Child Predator Unit has made 291 arrests since it was created in 2005, and undercover agents typically see an increase in communication with predators during the spring and summer months.

"Last year, more than 60 percent of the arrests by the Child Predator Unit occurred between April and August," Ryan said in a press release. "Now, more than ever, it is important for families to discuss online safety and to also emphasize that children should always tell a trusted adult if someone tries to use the Internet to sexually proposition them, send them graphic photos and videos or attempt to arrange face-to-face meetings."

(Editor's note: Riverview Intermediate Unit has a "guest teacher" consortium for participating districts, offering a list of substitute teachers who hold emergency teacher certification. Emergency certification requires only a four-year college degree, not a teaching certificate. McElroy started as a "guest teacher" but later earned a teaching certificate, which excluded his name from the consortium list. However, local districts could continue to hire him as a regular substitute teacher.)