A city man is behind bars unable to post $750,000 bail after his contact with a “decoy” underage girl turned into a sex trafficking investigation.

Logan D’George, 69, faces 31 charges, including nine felony counts of child pornography and nine felony counts of photograph/film/depict on computer sex act – knowingly or permitting child and single felony counts of trafficking in individuals, statutory sexual assault – 11 years older, promote prostitution of a minor – own/control/house, promote prostitution of a minor – procure minor prostitute, promote prostitution of a minor – transport minor, promote prostitution – own house, unlawful contact with a minor – prostitution, contact with minor – sexual abuse, unlawful contact with a minor – sexual exploitation, sexual exploitation of children and criminal use of a communication facility. D’George also faces misdemeanor charges of indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, promoting prostitution – procure patron and promoting prostitution – procure prostitute.

He was arraigned on those charges Friday afternoon before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones and was remanded to the Blair County Prison after being unable to post bail. His preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 4 before Jones.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Sept. 23, Altoona police responded to an Orchard Avenue home after a civilian confronted D’George over inappropriate messages he sent to the civilian’s Facebook account “Madison Ann,” where the civilian posed as a 15-year-old girl.

The civilian told police that D’George contacted the decoy “Madison Ann” on Sept. 21, knowing that he was contacting what he thought was an underage girl. D’George flirted with “Madison Ann” and asked if she enjoyed making money, men and if she likes massage, telling her it is very easy and pays good.

The conversations between D’George and the decoy “Madison Ann” continued until the two arranged to meet at the Ebensburg Big Lots, according to court documents. When “Madison Ann” refused to wait on the bench outside for D’George, D’George left and returned to his home on the 200 block of Orchard Avenue, the report states.

The civilian went to D’George’s home and attempted to contact him outside, but D’George refused to speak and went inside. At that point, the civilian called Altoona police, the affidavit states.

The investigation into D’George began after police arrived and talked to the civilian and D’George. D’George contends he was being scammed by a group for money through the account of “Madison Ann.”

When asked by police how he was being scammed, D’George unlocked his cellphone, opened up the Facebook messenger application and handed the phone to police.

In looking at the “Madison Ann” messages, police saw a number of other messages between various accounts, including multiple clearly fake accounts designed to target lonely men and ask them for money in exchange for photos and videos, the Altoona police officer reported.

The officer also saw messages that belonged to real females who live in Altoona and are known to police. Police briefly saw messages that consisted of the females asking for money from D’George.

One of the girls is a 16 year old whom police are familiar with from prior incidents and investigations, the affidavit states. There were messages discussing sexual favors in exchange for money, police reported. D’George also had the CashApp on his phone and multiple transactions were made to the 16-year-old victim’s account, police said.

While D’George denied trying to meet the decoy and denied speaking to any other underage girls or possessing any form of child pornographic material, police seized his phone due to the messages the officer observed. D’George provided the passcode, police reported.

One Sept. 25, police received a search warrant for the phone. That search turned up messages with the female victim dating back to Nov. 27, 2021, when she was 14 years old.

Conversations involve D’George asking the girl if she wants to make money quickly, with the victim stating she is in school and can only work 16 hours a week. She also states she does not want to sell her body or perform sex acts, according to information taken from the phone during the search, police reported.

Conversations between D’George and the victim continue for weeks, with the conversations escalating as D’George appears to groom the victim, according to court documents.

D’George spent most of December 2021 setting up appointments for the victim, sending the victim money for sex-related videos and making plans to sell the victim for sex, police reported.

Police said that the conversations appear to end, then start again in January 2023, when the female victim was 15 years old.

The affidavit of probable cause detailed the case and the instances that D’George allegedly messaged the victim, conversations that are sexually explicit and conversations about how much various sex acts cost.

A Hollidaysburg man who allegedly paid for contact with the victim was also interviewed by police. On Oct. 10, that man told police he was shocked the girl was underage, and stated he contacted D’George looking for prostitutes, court documents reveal. He said he had sexual encounters several times that were set up by D’George, the report states.

Police interviewed the now 16-year-old victim, who said she contacted D’George for help when her mother went to prison. She reported that the conversations started out normal, but escalated to sexual topics. She told police she only called D’George when she needed money, which is the only time he persisted that she exchange sex acts for money.

Among the dozens of messages referenced in the affidavit, D’George pushed the victim to perform sex acts for money, stated he wanted to marry her, set up more appointments for her and wanted to buy her breast enlargements. He also received explicit videos and photos of her, the report states.

A criminal history check of D’George shows that he has previous convictions for prostitution and related offenses, police reported.