A Centre County journalist accused of sending sexual messages to an FBI agent posing as teen and to a 14-year-old girl on a youth soccer team he coached in 2011 remains behind bars after appearing in court on Wednesday, and he may soon face federal charges.
Christopher Z. Morelli, 54, of Pleasant Gap, waived preliminary hearings in both cases, setting the charges on a path toward trial in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas.
District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said his office is “expecting federal charges” to be filed against Morelli. That could cause at least one of the cases to be moved to U.S. District Court.
Morelli, a longtime area journalist who most recently was managing editor of the Centre County Gazette, was denied bail earlier this month and is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility. Cantorna said there has been no discussion about a change in his bail status.
Spring Township police first arrested Morelli in December on charges accusing him of sending sexually explicit messages to and attempting to arrange meetings with an agent from the FBI Pittsburgh Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.
He began communicating with the agent in July 2022 through private messages on a social media application, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Over the course of about 18 months, Morelli allegedly made multiple attempts to meet with who he believed was a teenager for sexual activity, engaged in explicit conversations, sent lewd images of himself and attempted to solicit sexual images.
During the conversations Morelli allegedly expressed a preference for younger women, acknowledged he was communicating with a 14-year-old and wrote “You are the youngest person I’ve talked to.”
The communications continued until December 2023, when he again suggested they meet up near State College, according to the complaint.
The FBI contacted Spring Township police to assist in the investigation in September 2023, and a township detective arrested Morelli on Dec. 20 on felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offenses and criminal use of a communication facility.
After he posted $250,000 bail, he was arrested again on Jan. 5 on charges accusing him of sending sexual messages to a 14-year-old girl who was on a Bellefonte area youth soccer team he coached in 2011.
A woman came forward with the allegations after reading reports about Morelli’s initial arrest in December, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Morelli, who was 43 at the time, provided the girl and her friend with alcohol while they went swimming at his house in September 2011 when no one else was home, police wrote. The following month, he sent her messages through Facebook Messenger first asking about her sexual experience, then discussing her breasts and describing sexual acts he would do with her, according to the affidavit.
During the conversation he confirmed the girl’s age, according to message transcripts. The girl stopped communicating with him “after the conversations become even more inappropriate,” police wrote.
He allegedly attempted to contact the girl multiple times over the ensuing months, but she did not respond.
He was denied bail by District Judge Gregory Koehle after being charged in that case with felony counts of criminal solicitation of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.
Morelli was suspended by the Gazette after his initial arrest and the publication has had no contact with him since then, according to Tiara Snare, general manager of the Gazette’s parent company, Barash Media. She said the company could not comment on personnel matters and deferred further inquiries to the district attorney’s office. The weekly newspaper recently advertised a job listing for a new managing editor.
The investigation remains open. Cantorna asked anyone with information about Morelli to contact Spring Township detective Lukas Nelson at 814-355-5134.
