A Pennsylvania man received an active sentence of five years in prison last week for soliciting two local minors.

Jeffery Kerila, 24, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Jan. 30 in Gloucester Circuit Court to one count of using a communication device to solicit a minor for certain sexual offenses. 

Gloucester Circuit Court Judge Jeffery W. Shaw accepted the plea and sentenced Kerila to 20 years with 15 years suspended. Kerila will have to serve the mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender indefinitely, according to Capt. John Schick Jr. of the Gloucester Sheriff’s office. 

Schick said Kerila used a social media app called “Scout” to contact the local minors, both under the age of 10 at the time, for the purpose of soliciting nude photographs from them. 

Schick said the app flagged the communication and tipped off the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). He said the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office is affiliated with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), which allowed for coordination of the investigation of the NCMEC tip with police in Pennsylvania.

Through ICAC, the GSO was able to simultaneously investigate the suspect with Pennsylvania affiliates, culminating in Kerila being charged and brought to Gloucester to stand trial. 

In a release, Gloucester Sheriff Darrell Warren said it is a priority for him to identify and prosecute offenders targeting children. 

“The first line to protecting our children is by monitoring the children’s online activities,” Warren said. “It is critical that parents know what social media platforms their children are using and who they are communicating with on those sites.”