Luzerne

Luzerne County man charged with sexual assault of a minor

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Luzerne County man faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a child he communicated with through Facebook messages. Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the arrest and charges on Tuesday.

William James Christian Jr., a board member at the Lehigh & Keystone Valley Model Railroad Museum, was taken into custody on Tuesday. He is charged with multiple offenses, including unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, and disseminating explicit sexual material to a minor.

Bail for Christian, 30, from Dupont, was set at $125,000 during his arraignment on Tuesday. As a condition of his bail, he is prohibited from having internet access, unsupervised contact with minors, and involvement with the model railroad museum.

“This defendant used a common interest — enthusiasm for trains — to groom and prey on a young person,” Attorney General Sunday stated. “The defendant is charged with soliciting sexual messages from the victim, and assaulting them, over a period of many months.”

Investigators revealed that Christian exchanged messages with a 15-year-old over a year. The messages varied from discussions about model trains to sexual comments and imagery. The physical assaults reportedly