Lewisburg Nurse Indicted for Allegedly Building In-Person Pedophile Network

Rocco Scolamacchia Jr., 49, a Lewisburg emergency room nurse, was indicted on federal charges alleging he received child sexual abuse material for more than three years, arranged to meet an undercover FBI agent to sexually abuse a pre-teen girl, and worked to build an in-person pedophile network in what prosecutors describe as a deep and deliberate immersion in child sexual exploitation.

The federal indictment, filed by the FBI in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on March 11, alleges Scolamacchia discussed his sexual interest in children with like-minded associates through an online forum identified in court documents as "The Den of Depravity." He arranged to meet with an undercover federal agent posing as a woman who would allow him to have sexual encounters with a pre-teen foster daughter, and he met with the forum's founders in person as part of an effort to establish a real-world network.

His employment at WellSpan Evangelical Community Hospital drew particular concern from prosecutors. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly Harrell and David Metcalf wrote in court documents: "At the time of his arrest, the defendant was employed as an emergency room nurse at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, with access to a vulnerable population, including children who may need urgent medical attention."

The same court documents detail a further alleged abuse of his hospital position. While communicating with The Den of Depravity and its founders, Scolamacchia discussed offering to provide "sterile needles" from WellSpan's supply to the group's founders, whom he had met in person and who were active drug users, according to Harrell and Metcalf.

WellSpan issued a statement about Scolamacchia's charges and referred further questions to law enforcement officials. The hospital did not elaborate publicly on his employment status following the indictment.

Scolamacchia faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, a fine of up to $250,000, and between five years and a lifetime of supervised release if convicted.