University Times

Two Pitt-Johnstown (UPJ) employees are among five men arrested March 14 in an Internet sex probe involving a teenage boy.

William A. Gillin, manager of Alumni Relations at UPJ, and Jeffrey Haire, part-time police officer in Public Safety at UPJ, were charged in a larger investigation that Cambria County District Attorney Patrick Kiniry said is expected to grow.

The two were taken to Cambria County Prison. Gillin’s bail was set at $100,000; Haire’s was set at $75,000.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 21 before Cambria County District Judge Max Pavlovich.

UPJ spokeswoman Kimberly M. Miller said yesterday, “Both men have been suspended without pay pending their adjudicaton.”

A 1974 UPJ graduate, Gillin, 53, has worked at the Johnstown campus for more than 30 years. He was charged with two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.

Haire, a full-time police officer at a Johnstown-area hospital, has been a part-time UPJ employee for almost six years, said UPJ Director of Public Safety Kevin Grady. Haire did not have a regular schedule at UPJ, but worked on an as-needed basis about eight or 10 times per year, Grady said. Haire, 40, was charged with two counts of corruption of minors.

The charges stem from an investigation begun in 2005 in response to a report to Kiniry’s office that a Richland Township, Cambria County teen allegedly was involved in a sexual relationship that began over the Internet.

Richland Township police Sgt. Michael Burgan, a member of a regional computer crimes task force made up of state and municipal police computer experts, said the five men arrested Tuesday were identified using records of chat room conversations discovered on the 17-year-old alleged victim’s computer.

According to a state police complaint, the teen identified Gillin as one of the men he had met for sex and that he and Gillin had oral sex “at least 10 times,” that the sexual contact occurred at Gillin’s residence and that it occurred while the victim was 15 years old.

The involuntary deviate sexual intercourse charges, which are a felony, stem from engaging in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

According to the complaint against Haire, the alleged victim stated he and Haire had met on two occasions at Haire’s home, where they performed oral sex on one another. The boy was not under the age of 16 when the sexual contact with Haire allegedly occurred.

Burgan said the computers that were seized during the arrests, including Gillin’s UPJ computer, would be analyzed and that more charges against the five men or other persons could result. The computer analysis could take up to two months, Burgan said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow & Peter Hart