Stephanie Logue 

Staff Writer 

Gregory S. Mancini, a then 29-year-old coach and teacher from Erie, had his scheme disrupted by investigators from a Georgia sheriff’s office in November 2018. He had flown to the Atlanta area to meet a 13-year-old boy with whom he had previously had sexually explicit internet discussions. Mancini told Georgia officials after being captured in an undercover sting that, “he had crossed lines about these subjects with the victim,” referring to the sexual conversations.  Mancini reportedly admitted to the investigators that he “used different methods with him than with kids he had met through his employment.” 

Mancini, now 32, confirmed he made those claims — and that he had engaged in the activities that led to his arrest — when he appeared in U.S. District Court in Erie on Friday. He pleaded guilty to all three federal felony counts against him. He was accused of possessing and receiving child pornography, as well as flying to the Atlanta suburbs in an attempt to molest a 13-year-old boy he met while playing the online video game Fortnite. On November 2, 2018, he was intercepted and apprehended by investigators in Georgia. 

Mancini had worked as a teacher at Erie’s Barber National Institute, where clients have intellectual challenges, behavioral health concerns, or autism, and coached junior varsity basketball at the all-boys Cathedral Preparatory School in Erie up until his arrest in Georgia. Following his arrest in Georgia in November 2018, Mancini of Millcreek Township, resigned from both posts, and officials at both institutions stated at the time that they had received no complaints about Mancini’s behavior. In court, no more claims involving children were made against Mancini.

For pleading guilty to the allegation of receiving child pornography, Mancini faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison. If he pleads guilty to the other two accusations, he faces an additional decade in prison: one count each of possession of child pornography and interstate travel with the purpose to engage in unlawful sexual behavior. At a hearing done through Zoom, U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter accepted Mancini’s guilty plea and scheduled his sentence for May 6 at the federal courthouse in Erie.

The FBI searched Mancini’s Millcreek home in January 2020 as part of the federal investigation and seized his computer equipment. Hundreds of photos of child pornography were discovered during a forensic examination of the equipment, including some depicting youngsters as young as two-years-old, Trabold said in court on Friday. Investigators also discovered Mancini’s blog, in which he admitted to being attracted to younger boys, he said.

Since his indictment in Erie in July 2020, Mancini has been held without bond at the Erie County Prison. He said little during the 50-minute session on Friday, where he appeared via video from prison, as is common at plea hearings. Mancini faces a maximum sentence of 70 years if he receives consecutive sentences on all counts. Based on Mancini’s guilty plea and other criteria, such as any past record, the federal sentencing guidelines are likely to recommend a lower overall sentence.  His arrest put him on the Catholic Church of Erie’s list of people who were once affiliated with the diocese but can no longer have contact with minors due to criminal convictions or other inappropriate behavior.