All schools in Upshur County will close at 1 p.m. today. All B-UHS sporting events today are canceled.

Pennsylvania man sentenced for traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor

Court Judge

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – A Monessen, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison for traveling from his home to have sex with a child from Bridgeport, West Virginia.

According to court documents, Mark Sassak, Jr., age 38, began talking with whom he believed to be a 15-year-old female through a social media app. That conversation continued through text messages on his cell phone for several weeks. Sassak then asked for an in-person meeting to have sex with the 15-year-old. Sassak drove from his home in Pennsylvania to a location in Bridgeport, West Virginia in October 2020 for said meeting, where law enforcement arrested him. When a search of Sassak’s cell phone was done, officers found multiple chats with suspected minors and child pornographic videos.

After a three-day trial in December 2021, Sassak was found guilty of one count of “Travel to Engage in Sexual Activity with a Minor” and one count of “Possession of Child Pornography.”

The Bridgeport Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Perri and Jennifer Conklin prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. 

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.

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