A Jeannette man will serve nine months on house arrest for attempting to lure a child to a local hotel for sex.
Brian Zupancic, 29, pleaded guilty in May to felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor and attempted statutory sexual assault for an incident in June 2017.
Police said Zupancic contacted what he believed to be a 14-year-old on a social media dating service and arranged to meet the teen at the Holiday Inn Express in Hempfield to have sex. According to court records, Zupancic was actually corresponding with an undercover investigator as a part of a sting operation against suspected sexual predators. He was arrested shortly after he arrived at the hotel, according to court records.
“I know I made a horrible mistake and plan to do the best I can in the future,” Zupancic said just prior to being sentenced Friday by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.
Defense attorney Jeff Monzo said Zupancic has no prior criminal record and has been in counseling since his arrest, factors he said warranted a sentence that included no jail time.
Deputy Attorney General Chuck Washburn said the prosecution had no sentencing recommendation.
Bilik-DeFazio ordered Zupancic to serve three years of intensive probation, including the nine months of house arrest and barred him from the using the internet other than for work purposes. Zupancic also is required to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.
He was one of three men charged as part of the state’s sex sting operation.
Timothy Myers, 34, a former Bible study teacher from Unity, in April pleaded guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to serve one-to-two years in prison, one year on house arrest and five additional years on probation.
Harold B. Enriquez, 34, of Hempfield, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to charges of unlawful contact with a minor, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault of a child and child pornography. He was sentenced by Bilik-DeFazio to up to nearly two years in jail and seven years on probation.
