Prosecutor seeks jail for sex scheme harassment
Prosecutors argued a West Pottsgrove man deserves jail time after he posed as a young female named “Sarah” in online dating apps and sent dozens of men, after encouraging them “to engage in rape fantasies,” to the Upper Merion residence of an unsuspecting couple he never met and who feared for their safety.
“The defendant’s prolonged course of harassment of (the victims) without any explanation or justification warrants a sentence of incarceration,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Matthew S. Brittenburg wrote
in court papers in preparation for the upcoming sentencing hearing for Howard James Helbert Jr.
“Many of the men went to the victim’s home with an expectation that they would engage in violent sexual fantasies. Some were led to believe by (Helbert) that the woman who greeted them at the door wanted them to ‘break her jaw, punch her, leave her with bruises, slap her around and brutally rape her.’ Thankfully, no person who went to the home…carried out such disturbing behaviors upon the unwitting victims who resided in the home,” Brittenburg wrote.
But Helbert disregarded the risk that one of the men might carry out such behavior, Brittenburg argued, adding such conduct “is clearly far more disturbing and serious than a run of the mill course of anonymous harassment designed to annoy.”
Helbert, 59, of the 600 block of Dori Lane, previously pleaded guilty in county court to a misdemeanor charge of harassment in connection with incidents that occurred between November 2017 and December 2018. Helbert also pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing child pornography, which authorities allegedly found on his cellphone during the investigation.
Helbert, who remains free on bail pending a sentencing hearing later this
year before Judge William R. Carpenter, faces a possible maximum sentence of 5½ to 11 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
Brittenburg argued the young married Upper Merion couple, victims of Helbert’s scheme, described a sense of fear and apprehension. The female victim worried that Helbert’s violent fantasies could have spilled over into reality if one of the strangers who came to her door forced his way inside and sexually assaulted her — all under the false premise that she was “Sarah.”
The woman’s husband feared that if he left his wife home alone, she would be assaulted by a stranger, Brittenburg argued.
“They both lived with a fear that someone would force his way into the home at night when one of the strangers made a late-night visit. The defendant’s actions had extraordinary consequences upon the victims above and beyond that which is normally experienced by the victims of harassment,” wrote Brittenburg, adding the victims were so fearful they uprooted their careers and relocated.
The investigation began in 2018, when the Upper Merion couple who rented a residence in the 100 block of Patriot Road reported to township police that “various unknown male subjects began appearing at the house inquiring about a female named ‘Sarah,’” according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion Detective Jay Nakahara. The couple reported
that more than 40 men had knocked on the front door during morning, afternoon and late evening hours between November 2017 and December 2018 looking for “Sarah.”
One of the men showed the victims his cellphone which displayed a profile for a woman named “Sarah” on a dating app and the man said he had chatted with “Sarah” and was directed to the Patriot Road address to meet her, according to the criminal complaint.
“As a result of these safety concerns and disruptions, the property owner had a security system installed at the house. Additionally, (the victims) installed an electronic doorbell system capable of video recording and had a sign installed at the front door warning potential visitors looking for ‘Sarah’ that they had been defrauded,” Nakahara wrote in the criminal complaint.
The investigation determined the male visitors reported meeting “Sarah” on the dating apps Skout, Tinder, Jaumo and PlentyOfFish, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives subsequently obtained a warrant to gain information from the owner of the Skout dating app site and Google Inc. and uncovered an email address associated with the creation of the Skout account that purported to be “Sarah,” an 18-year-old woman “interested in risky sexual encounters with older men,” according to court documents. The search identified Helbert as the account holder and as the person who directed men he met
online to the Upper Merion residence, according to court documents.
When detectives went to Helbert’s West Pottsgrove home on Dec. 20, 2018, he cooperated and admitted to participating in chats via the dating apps in which he directed “random individuals” to the Patriot Road address.
“He stated that he had been conducting this activity for approximately one year which is consistent with the timing of the visits reported by the victims,” Nakahara alleged. “Howard further acknowledged that he had created a fictitious profile of a young female bearing the name ‘Sarah.’”
In one conversation forensically recovered from Helbert’s cellphone, detectives were able to see that Helbert “was encouraging men with whom he chatted to engage in rape fantasies,” Brittenburg alleged in court papers.
“The defendant says that ‘Sarah’ wishes to have bruises, her nose broken and that she was aroused by the idea of being violently assaulted,” Brittenburg alleged in court documents, describing an online conversation Helbert had with one of the men he sent to the Upper Merion couple’s home.
Authorities alleged some of the men did act aggressively when the victims answered the door.
“Others were simply embarrassed, but no one welcomed the discovery that they had been duped,” Brittenburg wrote.
Brittenburg argued the sentencing judge should consider that Helbert was warned by one of the men
he duped into going to the victims’ home that he was “harassing an innocent family.” But Helbert was undeterred and “persisted in his course of harassment despite being scolded by one of the men he ‘catfished,’” Brittenburg wrote.
Helbert, who according to court papers was a truck driver in the U.S. Army for approximately 27 years and honorably discharged in 2004, allegedly claimed to have randomly selected the Patriot Road address and the investigation determined the victims did not know Helbert and that Helbert had never physically traveled to the house.
“Howard admitted to using Google Maps street view in order to view the home so that he could describe it to potential visitors,” Nakahara alleged.
Brittenburg argued the judge should strongly consider the lengths to which Helbert was willing to go in order to get strangers to go to the victims’ house, including describing the color of the shutters.
When detectives searched Helbert’s cellphone to gather evidence regarding his conduct, they also uncovered files containing images of child pornography, according to the criminal complaint. Some of the images depicted female toddlers and others under age 18 engaged in prohibited sexual acts or poses, according to arrest documents.
“In the interview, Howard admitted to saving child pornographic images to his phone. Finally, Howard admitted to saving 300400 images of young females (child erotica) to his phone,” Nakahara alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Regardless the sentence he eventually receives, because he admitted possessing child porn, Helbert, who is represented by defense lawyer Gail Marr, faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.