Tristan Anderson, 21, of Upper Providence. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department)
An Upper Providence Township man, who is the fifth and final defendant to be convicted in the case involving the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old Upper Gwynedd youth, whom he met on a social media app, was sentenced Friday to 2½ to 6 years in state prison, with two years probation.
Tristan James Anderson, 22, of the 400 block of Montgomery Avenue, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of statutory sexual assault in June. He was taken into custody Friday by sheriff’s deputies to begin serving the sentence, according to The Mercury.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill ordered Anderson to have no contact with the victim. He had been free since April 2024 after posting $100,000 cash bond.
For the next 25 years, Anderson is required to report his address to state police in order to comply with the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law, per court records.
“He admitted to having sex with a juvenile. He was the adult, and he should have known better. When he met the juvenile, he knew upon seeing the juvenile’s age and continued to go forward with the conduct anyway,” Assistant District Attorney Bradley Walter Deckel said at the time of Anderson’s guilty plea in June, according to The Mercury.
He has been free since April 2024 after posting $100,000 cash bond in April and faces a 25-year requirement to register as a sex offender.
Under a plea agreement, six felonies were dismissed against Anderson, including rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault on a person under 13, unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, corruption of minors, and criminal use of a communication device, according to court documents.
Police said their investigation into the case revealed that Anderson was one of five men who abused the youth.
In Anderson’s case, he was communicating with the victim on Discord, which included sexual conversations and arranging plans to meet. Messages between Anderson and the juvenile revealed the two met on the evening of Aug. 21, 2023 and messages after the meeting referenced sexual activities that had occurred, according to the criminal complaint against Anderson.
In a forensic interview with Mission Kids, the youth disclosed that Anderson was their boyfriend and the two had met twice to have sex in Anderson’s vehicle, the report stated. Additional conversations between the victim and Anderson referred to making pillow forts and building LEGOs, indicating Anderson was aware the victim was a minor, according to police.
Cellular tracking placed Anderson at the locations and times the victim referenced, and the victim’s description of Anderson’s vehicle was later corroborated by police, officials said.
Per the report, arrest documents showed that during one conversation, Anderson told the juvenile, “I have some baggage like everyone else these days. I have anxiety. I have issues with staying focused. I’ve had issues in the past with substance abuse and I’m a total train wreck mentally most days, but you make me happy.”
Clockwise from top left: 24-year-old Joseph Slover, of Towamencin, 21-year-old Tristan Anderson, of Upper Providence, 31-year-old Brock Tharp, of Bally, and 24-year-old Nicholas Benotto, of Doylestown. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department)
Daniel Nixon, 25, of Hatfield. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department)With Anderson’s prosecution, it closes the case, at least on paper, in an investigation that began on Sept. 7, 2023 when a 12-year-old youth was reported missing to Upper Gwynedd Police.
Officials said a review of the victim’s iPad showed they had been involved in sexual communications with Nicholas Gianca Benotto, 25, of the 200 block of Fox Chase Lane, Doylestown, and the two had agreed to meet at the time the juvenile was last seen.
As the investigation unfolded, police found additional sexual communications with four other men, including Anderson, 24-year-old Joseph Slover, of Towamencin, 31-year-old Brock Tharp, of Bally, and Daniel Nixon, 25, of Hatfield Township.
Benotto was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail, to be followed by three years of probation, on a misdemeanor charge of corruption of a minor. Tharp was sentenced to state prison in March. Slover was sentenced to state prison in November 2024. Nixon was sentenced to two to four years in state prison.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
