Pittston Twp. man charged with filming child molestation
Feb. 25—A Pittston Twp. man told police he repeatedly molested three young girls over a six-year period because they were curious about sex and he wanted to personally "teach" them so they wouldn't do anything dangerous, investigators said.
Police said David John Williams, 57, of 8 Boston St., used a GoPro to record himself engaged in sex acts with the prepubescent victims, and that he also provided drugs and alcohol to them. The series of assaults, which took place in Pittston, Dupont and Pittston Twp., began when the girls were around 5 or 6 and continued until they were 12 or 13, police said.
According to the complaint, Williams — whose Facebook profile says "Music is my passion, the kids are my life, astronomy is my other world" — was a longtime friend of the victims' family and at one time operated a karate studio above the Pittston Fire Department.
The girls told Luzerne County detectives and city police that Williams began fondling them at a young age and made them touch him in return, according to the charges.
During a search of Williams' home on Thursday, investigators recovered a GoPro camera containing a memory card with multiple videos depicting the victims engaged in sex acts with him, according to the complaint.
Williams subsequently went to police headquarters and informed detectives that several years prior he had begun seeking out child pornography using search terms like "pre-teen" on a peer-to-peer network because he wanted to "assist law enforcement" in bringing offenders to justice, police said.
Williams initially denied molesting the three girls, but eventually admitted he would "teach" them about sex because "they were curious at the age of 6-7 years old about sex," according to the complaint.
Williams also admitted providing the children drugs and alcohol, saying "they all wanted it," police said.
Detectives charged Williams with multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault on a child, corruption of minors, recording child porn and possessing child porn.
Magisterial District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz arraigned Williams on the charges Thursday afternoon and denied bail, deeming him a danger to the community.
Williams was being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with a preliminary hearing set for March 9.
Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2058
