LOGAN — A 30-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter is behind bars for allegedly trying to coerce two Cache Valley girls to send nude pictures of themselves to him. Daniel Roy Kromer Jr. was extradited to the Cache County Jail after originally being arrested in February at his home in Allentown.
According to an arrest affidavit, North Park Police officers began investigating Kromer in July 2023, after the mother of one of the alleged victims located disturbing messages on her daughter’s phone. The chats were between the suspect and her daughter and another girl, on a social media app called IMVU.
The girls, ages 10 and 11-years-old, told police how Kromer had contacted them, while posing as a girl named “Ashley Ortiz.” The messages from the supposed girl claimed she was being sexually assaulted and asked the alleged victims to “call Daniel and tell him to stop.”
When the young girls allegedly contacted Kromer, he told them he would stop “if they would send him nude photos of themselves,” the affidavit detailed.
The girls allegedly sent Kromer pictures of them wearing clothes and of their legs. He reportedly posted the photos on his wall in the IMVU app, and threatened to only take them down if they sent him pictures of them naked.
During an interview at the Cache Children’s Justice Center, the alleged victims also described how Kromer sent pictures and videos of himself. Most of them were of him exposing and pleasuring himself.
North Park Police reported, one of the photos sent to the alleged victims showed Kromer wearing a firefighter uniform. Investigators were able to analyze the hard hat in the picture and found it connected to the Fountain Hill Fire Department. The fire chief at Fountain Hill was later able to identify the suspect as Kromer.
Detectives secured a warrant to obtain the IP addresses, emails and phone numbers for the IMVU account. They allegedly all belonged to Kromer.
On Feb. 21, police in Pennsylvania executed a search warrant on Kromer’s residence and detained him. They located several electronic devices that appeared to contain child pornography.
Police also found several message threads where it appeared Kromer was requesting naked photos from other juveniles. There were also chats “where a parent was offering their toddler to Daniel to have sex with for a couple hundred dollars,” according to court documents.
Agents with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office also located police reports alleging Kromer had “taken his female cousin to the woods” and was found “straddling her” with the victim screaming.
Another allegation indicated Kromer used a vacant burn house, used for training by firefighters, which he would advertise to women for rent. “The women would ask to see photos of the property and he would tell them to meet at the property so they could see it. Daniel also used this same property on a babysitting app offering babysitting services,” according to the arrest warrant.
Court records show, Kromer was arraigned Monday, March 18, in Logan’s 1st District Court. He was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual extortion of a child, a first-degree felony; four counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor and two counts of enticing a minor, all third-degree felonies.
Kromer was ordered to remain in jail and appear again in court March 25. He could face up to life in prison, if convicted.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.