Horsham man arrested for sexual assault, luring minors among other charges

HORSHAM, Pa. (WTXF) - Horsham Township Police have arrested a man on charges of sexual assault.

Back on September 27, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force received a cyber-tip from Facebook via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip identified possible child pornography and exploitation. Officials say 27-year-old Richard Blong from Horsham, Pa. was a possible suspect according to the tip.

It was found that Blong reportedly enticed three teenage girls who were between 14 and 17-years-old. During their conversations, he asked them to send pornographic images to him.

Police also revealed that the defendant had multiple Facebook conversations that were sexually explicit and exchanged sexually explicit photos with the three minors.

Detectives discovered that in August, Blong met with one of the girls in person at his home in Horsham and had sexual intercourse with her. The other two girls did not live in Pennsylvania and never met Blong in person.

"Predators know the seemingly private nature of cell phone use by children and teens and their various social media accounts. And predators seek to use those friendly platforms to take advantage of children," said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steely. "Parents need to be vigilant in monitoring their children's activity, keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and reiterate to their children that they should not correspond with unknown adults on these social media platforms."

Blong's official charges were statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, sexual abuse of children and other related charges. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 17.