LANCASTER – A U.S. Secret Service officer charged with sending a series of sexually inappropriate text messages to a 16-year-old Brecknock Township girl will have his case proceed to county court. 28-year-old Tristan Hale of Arlington, VA waived his preliminary hearing before a judge on six counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and one count each of communicating with a minor for sexual abuse, corruption of minors, disseminating explicit material of a minor, and unlawful contact with a minor. Hale is accused of sending the messages to the victim between October 2025 and January 2026. A forensic exam of Hale’s phone uncovered a lengthy, sexually explicit conversation. Investigators in Lancaster County began looking into Hale after the victim reported the abuse in January. Hale is currently free on $40,000 bail.
