Man draws prison for attempted sex assault of underage girl
NORRISTOWN >> A Montgomery County man is on his way to prison for trying to have sexual contact with an underage girl he met on the social media site Instagram.
Anthony Sherome Cheatham, 36, of the 100 block of North Central Avenue, Rockledge, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 4-to8-years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted statutory sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred in July 2018 in Abington with a 15-year-old girl.
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman also ordered Cheatham to complete 12 years’ probation following parole, meaning Cheatham will be under court supervision for 20 years.
Cheatham, also known as Nasir Jones, faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
The judge ordered Cheatham to have no contact with the victim.
An investigation began in July 2018, when Abington police received a report of an adult male attempting to lure a child over the Internet. Specifically, police learned a 15-year-old girl received a message on the social media application Instagram from a man who complimented her photos and included his telephone number, according to the criminal complaint filed by Abington Detective Rick Beaghley.
The girl advised an adult friend about the messages she received. The adult friend, pretending to be the juvenile, began to exchange text messages with the man, who identified himself as Nasir and claimed to be 22 years old. The adult friend of the victim informed the man that she was only 15 years old.
“The male responded he wanted to meet the juvenile and the messages then became sexual in nature,” said Beaghley, adding Cheatham was identified as the suspect using the Instagram profile.
Detectives then assumed the Instagram identity of the 15-year-old girl and Cheatham proceeded to send sexually explicit messages in which he said he wanted to meet the girl. Cheatham allegedly wrote, “I’ll take care of you and your body, I promise. I will teach you everything and guide you the right way and take care and spoil you,” according to the criminal complaint.
Cheatham, detectives alleged, also sent the undercover detective posing as the 15-year-old girl an image of a penis.
Cheatham agreed to meet who he believed was the 15-year-old girl at 3:30 p.m. July 3, 2018, at a location in the 700 block of Huntingdon Pike in Abington, according to the criminal complaint. Authorities placed the area under surveillance and observed Cheatham arrive at the meeting place in a 2001 Buick Century.
Police then moved in and arrested Cheatham.
During an interview by police, Cheatham admitted to sending sexually explicit messages to who he believed was the teenage girl.
“Cheatham admitted to offering the juvenile marijuana and sending a penis picture to who he thought was the 15-year-old girl,” Beaghley alleged.
Other charges of unlawful contact or communication with a minor, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, corruption of a minor, criminal use of a communication facility and distributing obscene or sexual materials were dismissed against Cheatham in exchange for his guilty plea to the other charges.