Central Pennsylvania man gets years in prison after child predator sting in Centre County
A Clearfield County man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison for paying an undercover officer with the intention of having sexual intercourse with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl in the State College area.
Walter T. Sitosky Jr., 67, was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann to five years of supervision once he is released from prison. Brann recommended Sitosky serve his time at a federal prison in Union County.
Sitosky was the fourth and final man to be sentenced after a 2023 prostitution sting in Centre County. The three others received similar sentences.
Sitosky responded in November 2023 to an online advertisement for a female willing to engage in sex, Patton Township police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. He swapped messages with an undercover officer and agreed to meet in the State College area for sex with the fictitious teen.
He was arrested in Patton Township after he paid a deposit to the undercover officer. Sitosky then admitted he intended to have sex with the teen because he “wanted to feel young again,” police wrote. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of attempted enticement of a minor.
Defense lawyer Jasmin A. Smith asked Brann to sentence Sitosky to house arrest, citing his previously clean criminal history and participation in treatment and counseling while he’s been incarcerated at the Clinton County Correctional Facility.
Emma L. Sitosky and Brian Sitosky each wrote a letter in support of their brother, telling Brann he is a loving uncle.
“Although I am angry with his choices in this situation I still can not wrap my head around it,” Emma Sitosky wrote.
Robert D. Mansberger, 59, of Huntingdon County; Gregory Wilson, 52, of Mifflin County; and Christopher Crispen, 34, of Howard, also pleaded guilty to a count of attempted enticement of a minor.
Mansberger was sentenced in January to 8 1/2 years in federal prison, as well as a decade of supervised released. He’s serving his time at the federal prison in Cambria County and is scheduled to be released Feb. 5, 2031.
Wilson was sentenced in June to serve the same amount of time as Mansberger. He’s incarcerated at a federal prison in Kentucky and is scheduled to be released Dec. 6, 2030.
Crispen was sentenced in November to seven years in federal prison, as well as a decade of supervised released. He’s serving his time at a federal prison in Ohio and is scheduled to be released Sept. 25, 2029.