(WHNT) – A naval petty officer living in Decatur has been charged with production of child pornography after a 13-year-old in Pennsylvania had sexually explicit communication with him, according to court documents.
Court records show that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Allentown, Penn. was contacted after a complaint was made stating a 13-year-old girl in Lehigh County had been communicating with 39-year-old Patrick Scott Otwell.
At the time of the complaint, court records show Otwell was enlisted in the United States Navy on active duty as an E-5, Petty Officer Second Class and was a helicopter mechanic who was stationed in Florida.
The girl, referred to in court documents as MV, was forensically interviewed in early February and provided information detailing communication between her and Otwell.
MV stated that she and Otwell met through an online application, either Y99 or Omegle, but she could not recall which one. They continued communicating through text messages, Facetime, and phone calls,
Otwell reportedly told MV that he lived in Florida and worked for the military, moving around frequently. At the time, MV said Otwell also told her he had a girlfriend and kids.
The Department of Defense told HSI that Otwell married an unnamed person in November 2021. Records also state he and his wife purchased a home in Decatur.
According to the complaint, the 39-year-old repeatedly sent to and requested explicit pictures and videos from MV. She stated in her interview that Otwell “quickly progressed to making such requests frequently.”
The documents go into detail about MV and Otwell’s communication, citing messages pulled from her iPhone and two iPads.
In the messages found on MV’s devices, the court documents say that Otwell established six ‘rules’ for the 13-year-old to follow which included sending him good morning messages and explicit photos, as well as asking for “permission to sleep.”
Court records say that communications between them “clearly indicate” that Otwell was aware of the girl’s age.
Otwell often referred to himself as “daddy” and referred to MV as “little baby,” “little girl” and “daughter.”
In the complaint, it says that between Nov. 25, 2022 and Jan 22. MV sent 25 pictures and 15 videos, while Otwell sent 26 pictures and 17 videos that were sexually explicit.
Otwell also allegedly asked MV to meet up several times, but she told investigators that she didn’t want to so she “made up excuses to avoid it.”
In MV’s forensic interview, she said that she blocked Otwell from being able to communicate with her on several occasions because “she would be “annoyed with his frequent requests for nude images and videos.”
Authorities tracked Otwell using his cellphone activity and found that he was near his Decatur home between Feb. 14-21. An arrest warrant was issued as a result of the complaint, and he was arrested on Feb. 23 according to court records.
Otwell is supposed to appear for a preliminary hearing Tuesday in the Huntsville Federal Court at 10:30 a.m.
