A Scranton man faces felony charges after state police say he failed to register his social media accounts with law enforcement, as required under Megan’s Law.
Brian Verga, of Main Avenue, was placed on the Megan’s Law registry in 2015 for sexual abuse of children, according to the criminal complaint.
He pleaded guilty to 26 felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 14 months to seven years behind bars in Lehigh County. He was ordered to register under Megan’s Law, as part of his sentence.
On June 11, State Police Cpl. Ryan Kearney conducted an investigation into Megan’s Law offenders in Lackawanna County regarding their social media compliance.
In reviewing Verga’s records, he noted Verga had only a Yahoo email address registered.
Further investigation, however, showed that Verga, 35, had an active Facebook account in his name active as recently as May 4.
On June 12, investigators interviewed Verga at his residence. He initially denied having any social media accounts. But then admitted to using both Facebook and TikTok, when confronted with a screenshot of his Facebook page, according to the complaint.
Verga told investigators he failed to register the accounts, because he believed that the email he provided covered all of his linked accounts.
State police arrested Verga and searched his apartment, where they found numerous hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia. When asked if there was anything else in theapartment investigators should be aware of, Verga told them there was crystal methamphetamine in the bathroom.
Troopers asked Verga if he had anything on his electronic devices that was illegal. He admitted to viewing and downloading pornography, but not child sexual abuse material and investigators did not find child sexual abuse material on his devices.
However, further investigation indicated Verga had additional social media accounts, including Discord, Telegram, Steam and Instagram were discovered and he admitted using them, according to the complaint.
When asked why he hadn’t registered the accounts, he said he didn’t know he was required to because they were linked to his email account, which he had registered with law enforcement.
Verga faces six counts of failing to register his social media accounts with law enforcement, possession of a controlled substance and of drug paraphernalia. He remains in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on June 23 before District Judge Paul Keeler.