Monroe County pastor was snared by predator catcher
Video posted online shows reverend calling 911 to report himself
A pastor arrested in Monroe County on Friday on charges he tried to meet teenagers for sex was snared in a predator catcher-style video posted online.
“Can you send a patrol officer to the Wawa in Blakeslee?” the Rev. Gregory Loughney asked a 911 dispatcher. “I made a mistake and I need to report myself.”
The Diocese of Scranton removed Loughney, ordained by the Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of Scranton, in May 2011, from duty Sunday pending the outcome of the investigation.
Loughney, 42, 215 Saunders Court, Cresco, is charged with attempted statutory sexual assault of a minor at least 11 years younger than himself, criminal use of a communication facility, attempted corruption of minors and attempted indecent assault of a minor less than 16 years old, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Pocono Mountain Regional Police.
According to an affidavit, Loughney agreed to meet with a 15-year-old boy he met on Tinder, a dating app, and the minor’s 16-year-old friend at the Route 940 store for group sex.
When Loughney showed up, he was confronted by the person with whom he’d actually been speaking with — a man named Nicholas Goodlavage, who recently began confronting suspected child abusers as part of an online group called “570 Predator Catchers.” Goodlavage taped the confrontation.
“You know what you did is very wrong,” Goodlavage said in the video.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Goodlavage declined to say much.
“The idea behind it, it’s bigger than one person, it’s bigger than anyone’s face or name,” he said. “It’s just about exposing these monsters.”
The group reported the video was its second “catch” and used a strategy popular on video-sharing sites where the catcher assumes a fake, teenage identity online to find and publicly expose grown adults who have sexual conversations with them and arrange to meet them regardless of their age.
Their first encounter was earlier this month at the Walmart in Taylor with an unidentified man. The police showed up, according to the video, but it is unclear if charges are pending. Goodlavage declined to say who else is involved in the online group.
The activity follows efforts from Musa Harris, the self-stylized Luzerne County predator catcher, who employs similar tactics and says he’s confronted nearly 240 individuals in the last approximately 1 ½ years.
Rarely have such confrontations resulted in arrest and police have cautioned such investigations should be left in the hands of law enforcement. Sometimes, prosecutors bring a case.
Earlier this month, the Luzerne County district attorney’s office approved charges against nine people, including the Valley View School District’s former director of literacy, Christopher Mazzino, after police investigations stemming from sting operations Harris conducted. Mazzino has a preliminary hearing scheduled Nov. 12.
In the Loughney case, police said the pastor admitted to the conduct in an interview with investigators.
“I went down the rabbit hole,” he said, according to the complaint.
Loughney, formerly of Scranton, is free on $75,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled Nov. 4 in Monroe County. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. A court docket did not list an attorney for him.