State College man among 5 charged with being Internet predators

Five men, including a State College man, have been charged by the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit with using the Internet to sexually proposition what they believed were 13- and 14-year-old girls.

The "girls" were actually undercover agents, according to the announcement by Attorney General Tom Corbett.

Those arrested are: u Nityanand Gopalika, 30, 445 Waupelani Drive, State College, Centre County.

u Lahbib Hannoune, 30, 303 Glen Douglas Drive, Glenshaw, Allegheny County.

u Joseph Duane Tyger, 46, 98 Herriman St., Commodore, Indiana County.

u Dominic J. Galliani, 44, 9 Thomas St., Uniontown, Fayette County.

u Harlan Gene King, 26, 114 Tressler Drive, Confluence, Somerset County.

In each case, the news release from Corbett said the men approached agents posing as teenage girls in Internet chat rooms, and the conversation rapidly moved to sexual topics, including graphic descriptions of the sex acts they wish to engage in.

Gopalika, Tyger and King were arrested when they arrived at locations where they had allegedly arranged to meet and have sex with young girls, according to Corbett's office.

The other two men – Hannoune and Galliani – are charged with sending webcam videos that allegedly showed them nude and masturbating in front of their computers, the news release stated.

Gopalika, a native of India who is in the U.S. on a work visa, was arrested July 1 in Butler County. Following a search of his vehicle, agents seized two laptop computers, a digital camera, a cell phone allegedly containing a partially completed text message to the “child,” directions to the meeting location and a bag of condoms, according to Corbett's office.

He was arraigned and remanded to Butler County jail in lieu of $24,000 bail. He is charged with one count of attempted unlawful contact with a minor (related to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse), a first-degree felony which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Gopalika also is charged with two counts of unlawful contact with a minor (related to obscene performances), along with one count of criminal use of a computer, all third-degree felonies. He will be prosecuted in Butler County.