Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
An Air Force member was charged Thursday by Falls Township police after investigators said he arranged for a 15-year-old girl from the Levittown section of the township to travel to Delaware to meet him.
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The girl was found safe in Dover, Delaware, hours after her parents reported her missing. It ended a search that involved local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Dylan Drake Williams, 27, of Thornton, Colorado, was taken into custody as part of the investigation, a law enforcement official said.
Falls Township police charged him Thursday night with unlawful contact with a minor — sexual offenses, unlawful contact with a minor — corruption of minor, corruption of a minor, and unlawful contact with a minor.
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Williams was arrested at Dover Air Force Base housing, police Lt. Chris Clark said.
He is awaiting extradition to Bucks County.
Williams began communicating with the girl through Snapchat in June, police said.
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The two exchanged sexually explicit messages on the social media platform, police said.
The girl later told Williams that her parents were checking her cellphone and that she needed to temporarily block him, according to police.
Law enforcement officials said the two resumed communicating about a week later.
The conversations allegedly became sexual again in late July, and police said Williams acknowledged in a message that he knew the girl was underage.
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On Wednesday, according to police, Williams sent the girl a message that said: “Tell me how bad you want to be kidnapped, baby.”
Williams reportedly asked the girl to have sex with her.
The two allegedly made plans to meet, with Williams telling the girl to pack a bag and sneak out of her Levittown home, police said.
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The airman also allegedly instructed her to block him on her cellphone and leave the phone behind.
The girl’s parents contacted police at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday to report her missing. She had apparently left the home through a back window shortly before 3:20 a.m.
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The teen’s parents found the cellphone she had left behind and discovered “concerning messages,” police said.
The messages did not provide a clue to the girl’s whereabouts.
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Falls Township police then issued a press release seeking information about the girl.
The girl was found safely in Delaware’s capital city hours later.
Her parents gave investigators permission to download the cellphone for a forensic examination, which led investigators to the Snapchat messages with Williams, police said.
Police said they located Williams’ cellphone at Dover Air Force Base.
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When law enforcement officials there contacted him, he admitted the missing girl was with him, according to police.
Falls Township police Chief Nelson Whitney commended law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and Delaware for their assistance, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Air Force Security Service.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
