Man admits to statutory sexual assault of 12-year-old Upper Gwynedd boy

 And then there were none.

The fifth and final defendant in the case involving the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old Upper Gwynedd boy has admitted to having sex with the youth whom he met on a social media messaging platform.

Under a plea agreement, Tristan James Anderson, 22, of the 400 block of Montgomery Avenue, Upper Providence, pleaded guilty Monday in Montgomery County Court to a felony charge of statutory sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred in August 2023 in Upper Gwynedd, according to court documents.

According to The Reporter, Anderson will be sentenced later this year to 2½ to 6 years in state prison, followed by two years of consecutive probation, for a total of eight years of court supervision.

He has been free since April 2024 after posting $100,000 cash bond in April and faces a 25-year requirement to register as a sex offender.

Under the plea agreement, six felonies were dismissed against Anderson, including rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault on a person under 13, unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, corruption of minors, and criminal use of a communication device, according to court documents.

First, Anderson must be evaluated by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator, per the report.

“He admitted to having sex with a juvenile. He was the adult and he should have known better. When he met the juvenile, he knew upon seeing the juvenile the juvenile’s age and continued to go forward with the conduct anyway,” said Assistant District Attorney Bradley Walter Deckel in the article. “Children need to be very careful when they’re on the internet because there’s always going to be people out there like Tristan Anderson who are looking to exploit children.”

Police said their investigation into the case revealed that Anderson was one of five men who abused the boy.

In Anderson’s case, he was communicating with the victim on Discord, which included sexual conversations and arranging plans to meet. Messages between Anderson and the boy revealed the two met on the evening of Aug. 21, 2023 and messages after the alleged meeting referenced sexual activities that had occurred, according to the criminal complaint against Anderson.

In a forensic interview with Mission Kids, the boy disclosed that Anderson was his boyfriend and the two had met twice to have sex in Anderson’s vehicle, the report states. Additional conversations between the boy and Anderson referred to making pillow forts and building LEGOs, indicating Anderson was aware the boy was a minor, according to police.

Cellular tracking placed Anderson at the locations and times the boy referenced, and the boy’s description of Anderson’s vehicle was later corroborated by police, officials said.

Per the report, arrest documents showed that during one conversation, Anderson told the juvenile, “I have some baggage like everyone else these days. I have anxiety. I have issues with staying focused. I’ve had issues in the past with substance abuse and I’m a total train wreck mentally most days, but you make me happy.”

With Anderson’s prosecution, it closes the case, at least on paper, in an investigation that began on Sept. 7, 2023 when a 12-year-old boy was reported missing to Upper Gwynedd Police.

    Clockwise from top left: 24-year-old Joseph Slover, of Towamencin, 21-year-old Tristan Anderson, of Upper Providence, 31-year-old Brock Tharp, of Bally, and 24-year-old Nicholas Benotto, of Doylestown. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department)

    Daniel Nixon, 25, of Hatfield. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department)
  

 

Officials said a review of the boy’s iPad showed he had been involved in sexual communications with Nicholas Gianca Benotto, 25, of the 200 block of Fox Chase Lane, Doylestown, and the two had agreed to meet at the time the boy was last seen.

While driving with the boy, Benotto was contacted by a family member who informed him that police wanted to speak with him regarding the boy’s whereabouts, investigators said. Benotto then drove to the William Penn Inn, where police took custody of the boy and conducted a preliminary investigation with Benotto, according to the criminal complaint.

Benotto told investigators that he met the boy on the Grindr dating app the previous day, with the boy claiming to be 18 years old, police said. Benotto added he and the boy engaged in sexual communications, sent each other explicit photos, and then agreed to meet, according to charging documents.

Throughout his interviews with police, Benotto maintained he didn’t know the boy was 12 years old, and messages sent by Benotto to the boy included “Can you prove your age,” “How old are you,” and “School id, or something,” according to charging documents.

Benotto also claimed the boy said he had lost his wallet and driver’s license, so he was unable to verify his age, police said.

Last month, Benotto was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail, to be followed by three years of probation, on a misdemeanor charge of corruption of a minor in connection with a September 2023 incident.

Dismissed charges against Benotto included attempted rape of a child, attempted statutory sexual assault, possession of child pornography, possession of photographs or film of an underage sex act, corruption of minors by a defendant aged 18 or older (two charges), and misdemeanor charges of drug possession and possession of marijuana, according to Montgomery County court records.

As the investigation unfolded, police said they conducted a forensic download of the boy’s phone and iPad, which allegedly showed additional sexual communications with four other men, including Anderson, 24-year-old Joseph Slover, of Towamencin, 31-year-old Brock Tharp, of Bally, and Daniel Nixon, 25, of Hatfield Township.

Tharp was sentenced to state prison in March. Slover was sentenced to state prison in November 2024. Nixon awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to statutory sexual assault in February. According to The Reporter, Nixon is expected to be sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison and two years’ consecutive probation under a plea agreement.

All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.