A 47-year-old teacher at Albert Gallatin High School was taken into custody by state troopers in South Union Township after allegedly arranging to pay for sex with someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl being trafficked by another adult. Lester Everly now faces charges of unlawful contact with a minor, trafficking in persons and statutory sexual assault, and a second man, 57-year-old Eric Lee Harris, was arrested in the same sweep on separate allegations involving child pornography, drugs and guns found in his home.
The Fayette County district attorney's office said the two men were arrested as part of an undercover investigation related to crimes against children, according to CBS News. Everly, who KDKA-TV has reported works as a teacher at Albert Gallatin High School, is accused of believing he was meeting a 15-year-old girl who was being trafficked by another adult. State troopers took him into custody when he arrived at the meeting place in South Union Township. He is being held in the Fayette County jail without bond.
Separate Allegations Against Second Suspect
Harris was arrested and charged in the same operation targeting internet crimes against children, the report states. Police obtained a search warrant for his home and seized multiple electronic devices that were determined to contain child pornography. During the search, officers also reported finding guns and narcotics in plain view, and noted that Harris is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm. He now faces charges spanning sexual abuse of children, drug offenses and gun offenses, and like Everly, he is being held in the Fayette County jail without bond.
How Pennsylvania Law Treats These Charges
Under Pennsylvania's unlawful-contact statute, the law defines a minor as anyone under 18 and covers intentional contact with a minor, or with an officer posing as one, for purposes that include prostitution and sexual abuse of children, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The statute grades an unlawful-contact violation the same grade and degree as the most serious underlying offense or a third-degree felony, whichever is greater, and it grants the state Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction alongside local prosecutors when a defendant is accused of contacting a minor through a computer or computer network. Those provisions describe how the law generally functions and do not determine whether or how they apply to the allegations against Everly or Harris.
Pattern of Similar Cases in Fayette County
This is not the first time Fayette County authorities have announced an arrest stemming from someone believing they were meeting a minor. In an earlier case, 53-year-old Samuel Clinton Newman was arrested after an operation tied to allegations that he sexually abused his 13-year-old cousin, facing charges including sexual abuse of children, statutory sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor, per the same CBS News outlet. In another case, 64-year-old Vance Stabley was charged after driving 25 miles from his Westmoreland County home to a South Union Township park to meet someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl, and was held in Fayette County Prison, the station reported.
A separate case covered by WPXI involved an online group that helped set up an arrest after a man allegedly tried to meet a teen girl in a Fayette County park. In 2025, the Observer-Reporter reported that a Vanderbilt man was jailed after being accused of sharing child pornography online, unable to post a $100,000 bond.
Earlier Investigation at the Same School
Albert Gallatin Area School District has faced scrutiny before over a case involving a teacher. A 2023 report from the Herald-Standard said Pennsylvania State Police closed an investigation into an Albert Gallatin teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student, after that teacher died; police never identified the teacher involved. That same report noted investigators had examined an alleged assault between a teacher and a 14-year-old student said to have occurred between 2006 and 2009, also without identifying the teacher.
