PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — A corrections officer at SCI-Camp Hill has been arrested and charged after allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl and arranging to meet her for sex.
Robert Burkholder, 36, of Lewisberry, was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon by Punxsutawney Borough Police in Jefferson County, after traveling to meet the individual he had been communicating with online for several weeks.
According to police, Burkholder was not speaking to an actual minor but to a volunteer with 814PredHunters, a Clearfield County-based non-profit organization that works to expose online child predators.
Investigators said Burkholder was aware of the decoy’s stated age early in their chats and continued to engage in explicit sexual conversations. He allegedly sent numerous graphic messages and photos, including one of himself wearing his SCI-Camp Hill uniform, and made multiple phone calls with the decoy.
Police reports state that Burkholder expressed his intent to impregnate the “girl” and hoped “her mom doesn’t find out.”
The two arranged to meet at a playground in Punxsutawney on Wednesday afternoon. Before arriving, Burkholder allegedly texted that he was stopping at a CVS to buy a morning-after pill. He was arrested without incident at 12:45 p.m., and police recovered a white CVS bag from his vehicle.
The arrest was live-streamed by 814PredHunters, who also provided police with extensive chat logs and evidence.
Burkholder has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal case, according to a spokesperson from SCI-Camp Hill.
He faces multiple felony charges, including:
Attempted statutory sexual assault
Attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse
Attempted aggravated indecent assault
Attempt to corrupt minors
Attempted indecent assault
Criminal use of a communication facility
