Dec. 10 – WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County man serving time in state prison for sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 2010 was sentenced Friday for soliciting sex from someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy in an online sting last year.
Michael Halye, 48, who is also named as a violent sexual predator, was sentenced to 18 to 36 months in prison alongside his 10 to 20 year state sentence. Halye, an inmate at Frackville State Correctional Facility, appeared via video link before Luzerne County Judge Michael Vough.
Halye pleaded guilty in July to felony charges of criminal attempt to unlawfully contract with a minor for sexual purposes and criminal use of a means of communication.
Kingston police used evidence from self-proclaimed Luzerne County catcher Musa Harris to charge Halye in November 2021 with arranging a meeting with the “boy” for sex. Halye was on parole and living in Scranton at the time he initiated online communication with Harris, who was posing as the boy.
Harris drove to Scranton and met Halye outside her Moosic Street building. Harris made an audio and video recording of the meeting, during which Halye admitted the boy was 15. Halye also said it was the first time he had arranged a sexual encounter with a minor, adding that he was getting rid of the phone app used for their online communication and it would never happen again.
In addition to the sentence, Vough ordered that Halye not have any unsupervised contact with minors or visit places frequented by minors such as schools, public parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and libraries. Halye was to confiscate cellphones, computers or other electronic devices containing contraband material, follow sex offender counseling and pursue registration as a sex offender.
Contact Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.
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