Horsham School Cook Charged with Trying to Have Sex with Minor

A 39-year-old Sellersville man who works as a cook at the Lakeside School in Horsham Township has been charged with attempting to allegedly engage in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl. 

Michael J. Barndt, aka "mikecoach73," was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on Wednesday for attempted enticement and coercion of a minor and attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor, according to a press release issued Friday by The U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Delaware. 

Barndt is accused of communicating with someone believed to be a 14-year-old girl about traveling from Pennsylvania to Delaware to have sex. In reality, he was chatting over the internet with a special agent employed by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, according to the release. 

If convicted, Barndt faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years behind bars and up to life in prison, fines of up to $250,000 for each offense, and a term of supervised release following any prison sentence of at least five years to life.

According to the criminal complaint, on or about June 7, Barndt posted an online personals ad on www.craigslist.com called “Real Teen Fantasy,” in which he expressed interest in a teenaged fantasy liaison. 

An undercover HSI agent posing as a 14-year-old girl responded to the ad. Using screen name “mikecoach73,” Barndt allegedly engaged in a series of online chats with the undercover agent. 

During those discussions, Barndt is accused of expressing interest in sexual relations with the person he believed to be a minor girl and allegedly transmitted to the undercover agent photographs of his exposed genitalia to entice the “girl” to meet him.

Barndt later made arrangements to travel from his home in Pennsylvania to Delaware to have sex with the person he'd been chatting with, believing it to be a 14-year-old girl, according to authorities.

He checked into a hotel at the corner of Route 202 and Naamans Road in New Castle County, Del. and also traveled to the nearby Concord Mall and purchased lingerie for the child, according to the release. Soon after, Barndt traveled back to the mall to pick up the girl as planned and was arrested, according to the release. 

Barndt works at the Lakeside School as a cook during the school year and over the summer months he works as a camp counselor at Blue Bell Camp in Blue Bell. In the fall of 2012, Barndt was also a middle school football coach in the Springfield School District in Montgomery County.

Members of the public with any information about this case are encouraged to contact the Department of Homeland Security’s Wilmington office at (302) 428-0104 Ext. 7005.