NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man admitted to having inappropriate sexual conversations with an underage girl from Lower Moreland and will be sentenced by a judge later this year.
Joseph McGuire, 66, of the 2300 block of North 30th Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of inappropriate contact or communication with a minor, sharing explicit sexual materials with a minor, and influencing a minor in connection with incidents that occurred between 2021 and 2022.
Judge Wendy G. Rothstein delayed the sentencing until June for McGuire to be assessed by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, which will determine if McGuire meets the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face stricter restrictions under state law.
Rothstein said McGuire also must undergo a psychosexual evaluation and follow all treatment recommendations.
McGuire could face a maximum sentence of 7 to 14 years in prison for the charges.
The judge ordered McGuire to be held in the county jail without bail until his sentencing hearing.
Regardless of the sentence he receives, McGuire faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
The judge instructed McGuire to have no contact with the victim.
An investigation began on Jan. 2, 2022, when Lower Moreland police responded to a Levy Lane residence in the Huntingdon Valley section of the township where the mother of a 15-year-old girl reported that an adult male had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with the girl.
“The offender was identified as Joseph McGuire, a 64-year-old male,” Lower Moreland Detective Justin Brommer wrote in the criminal complaint.
The victim’s sister reported she had observed a series of sexually explicit text messages between the juvenile and McGuire on the girl’s Apple watch. McGuire, according to court papers, once worked at the Philly Skate Zone, Palace Roller Rink, in Philadelphia where the victim spent a lot of her time.
When detectives interviewed the teenage victim, she disclosed that she and McGuire talked about each other’s sex lives over the phone and via text message. The pair also communicated via the social media app Snapchat, detectives said.
“Victim reported during one conversation, she was asked to send him images of herself, which she did via text message,” Brommer alleged, adding McGuire also sent the victim a photo of his genitals.
The girl also reported that McGuire provided her with marijuana and offered her alcoholic drinks.
When detectives downloaded the contents of the victim’s phone, they found several screenshot images of sexually explicit text conversations between the juvenile and McGuire.
Detectives also reviewed data from McGuire’s cellphone. An analysis of that data showed that McGuire’s phone communicated with the victim’s phone a total of 1,922 times between August 2021 and January 2022, according to court documents.
Brommer claimed that the person who was harmed had the most frequently used number in McGuire’s phone.
According to court documents, investigators discovered 641 voice calls, 1,278 text messages, and three other forms of communication between McGuire’s phone and the victim’s phone.
Brommer alleged that some of the voice calls lasted over 60 minutes, and most of the calls occurred late at night or in the early morning.
The case is being handled by Assistant District Attorney Jediah Grobstein, and McGuire was represented by defense lawyer Michael Drossner during the court proceedings.
