UPDATED: Former Coudersport-based State Trooper Busted in Online Sex-Sting
MILTON – A former Coudersport-based State Trooper has been arrested on charges that he knowingly sent a nude video of himself to what he believed was a 13-year-old girl.
Trooper Douglas Nick Sversko, age 43, of 216 Lamplight Lane, Lewisburg, PA, was arrested by State Police and agents from the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit.
Acting Attorney General Bill Ryan said that Sversko, a Pennsylvania State Trooper, used an Internet chat room to approach an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit who was using the online profile of a teenage girl. After complimenting the agent about her profile photo and acknowledging her age, Sversko allegedly indicated that he was not wearing any clothing, stating, “naked is comfy,” and, “I am not afraid to tell you that I’m naked and attracted to you.”
According to the complaint, Sversko then sent the agent a link to his computer webcam and proceeded to transmit a lengthy video that showed him nude and dancing in front of his computer. Sversko then asked the “girl” if she enjoyed the video and if she had been sexually aroused.
Ryan said that Sversko is accused of closing the online chat by cautioning the girl to keep their encounter secret, telling her, “Make sure you delete our conversation,” and, “we don’t really want mom to read about this.”
Sversko was taken into custody on February 16th by agents from the Attorney General’s Office, assisted by Pennsylvania State Police. Ryan said agents also executed a search warrant at Sversko’s home, seizing three computers, a webcam and various data storage devices. Those items will be analyzed by the Attorney General’s Computer Forensics Unit as part of an ongoing investigation.
Sversko is charged with one count of unlawful contact with a minor (related to obscene or sexual materials and performances) and one count of criminal use of a computer, both third-degree felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.
Sversko was preliminarily arraigned on February 16th before Harrisburg Magisterial District Judge Joseph P. Solomon, who set bail at $100,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 23rd, at 9 a.m., before Magisterial District Judge Solomon.
Sversko will be prosecuted in Dauphin County by Deputy Attorney General Christopher J. Jones of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit.
Sversko is currently suspended without pay, but was most recently based out of Milton, PA. He has been a member of Troop F since 1993, and has served at the Coudersport, Selinsgrove and Montoursville barracks.
