Probation ordered for Mt. Pleasant man who said teen bullying led to revenge porn

A Mt. Pleasant man told a judge Friday he posted nude pictures of a former girlfriend to the internet because she and her friends bullied him years earlier while in high school.

Frank Sebek II, 25, was ordered to serve three years on probation as part of a plea deal in which he admitted guilt to two felony charges in connection with the possession of child pornography. Sebek is required to register as a convicted sex offender for the next 15 years. The judge also prohibited him from having internet access unless needed for work or school.

In court, Sebek was led through a series of questions from defense attorney Gary Gerson to explain why nearly a decade after a troubled period during high school, which he said included being the target of bullying and at least two suicide attempts, he exacted revenge against a now adult woman after he spotted her working at a local business.

“Mr. Sebek was never given the opportunity to express what happened back in the day. These scars stayed with him,” Gerson said.

According to court records, the woman contacted police in August 2020 after she learned nude pictures she had taken of herself when she was 16 or 17 had been posted to an online site along with her name and identified her as a former student at a local high school.

Police said the pictures were posted a year earlier by Sebek. The woman told police that while in high school Sebek harassed her through text messaging after she rejected his romantic advances.

In court Friday, Sebek told Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears he has suffered with mental illness since he was 10 and throughout his childhood and into adulthood and diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, depression and a severe anxiety disorder.

He said during his freshman year, he befriended his now accuser, but after a period of time, she ended the relationship. Sebek told the judge that after the breakup, he texted her a threat to commit suicide and she responded with a challenge for him to do so.

“You tried to commit suicide based on what she told you to do?” Gerson asked.

“Yes,” Sebek answered, saying as a teen he made two efforts to kill himself by taking large quantities of pills.

Sebek told the judge he got married in September and still lives with his parents while working as an in-home caregiver for his mother.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed three counts, including a felony charge of dissemination photographs of child sex acts.

“I do have sympathy for him, but I don’t think two wrongs make a right,” Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr said. “I look at this as a separate act to what happened in high school 10 years ago.”