(Main photo and photos in the story are from the live stream as well as a photo of the “Niky Sal” Facebook page)
BY JOHN ANDERSON
When law enforcement talks to someone accused of any sexual crimes against minors or sending explicit photos to minors, those conversations usually take place in an interrogation room and lead to an arrest. The arrest gets a few lines in the police reports depending on the nature and severity of the charges.
On Sunday night, those closed door conversations became very public on a live Facebook broadcast when a Facebook influencer who poses as a minor on Facebook messenger talked a Wellsville man into meeting him in the village.
The problem is, the man was posing as two 14-year-old girls. And, earlier in the day, posed as an 11-year-old girl from Jamestown, which the man admitted on camera he sent graphic photos to and made inappropriate sexual comments.
By the end of the night, the Wellsville Village Police were on the broadcast taking a man in custody and charges were filed.
The Wellsville Sun has looked into the entire incident and history surrounding the person arrested as there were several false claims made on the video regarding the man’s status in the community. The Sun has also found 12 prior arrests and one prison term served by the man who is now in the Allegany County Jail.
Wellsville Fire Chief Rod Winans made it clear that King was not a volunteer firefighter as he claimed in the video:
“He is not in any way affiliated with the Wellsville Fire Department, on any level.”
Wellsville Police charged Brian B. King, age 57 of Wellsville, with first-degree felony disseminating indecent material to minors.
King was arraigned and sent to the Allegany County Jail with no bail set.
The Wellsville Sun has learned King was jailed without bail because he has two or more prior felonies. The case will go to county court for decisions on bail.
However, the charges may not be over as the investigation is continuing.
The person who initiated the incident uses the pseudonym “Niky Sal” on Facebook and on his profile says he lives in Erie, Pa. and a “Pennsylvania Child Predator Hunter.” On his Facebook page, he has helped identify many men who send photos of their private parts to Nicky Sal posing as a minor. There are arrests in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties as well as many counties in Pennsylvania.
The live video shot on Main Street in Wellsville near the library has over 53,500 views. The Facebook page has 10,000 followers. The video was shared 441 times, but there were follow up posts on the arrest.
Here is what the Wellsville Sun learned about King’s past.
– In the video, he claims he’s a volunteer firefighter and recently came back from fighting wildfires in New Jersey. King is not and never was a volunteer firefighter in Wellsville. He has worked as a dishwasher at a few local restaurants. However, over 20 years ago he was a volunteer in New Hudson and Short Tract.
– King served 3-to-6 years in prison at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden for an arrest in Batavia on felony forged instrument charges.
– King was charged in Mt. Morris, Livingston County with third-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief.
– He was charged on separate occasions with criminal possession of a controlled substance, illegal use of a telecommunications device and writing bad checks.
– One of his first arrests was for menacing in 1995 in Amity.
Allegany County District Attorney Ian Jones said he did not watch the video, but because of the unusual nature of the incident and police being put in a situation they were unaware of, he did get a call Sunday night.
Fortunately for “Niky Sal,” two officers were able to respond to the scene when King started claiming he had pornographic images on his phone. On the Facebook live, he told King he was videoing for his safety and for King’s safety.
There were other strange claims. King said one app on his phone was no good because he thought he was talking to celebrities but it turned out they were fan pages. He also said he needs to go to counseling.
“No matter what is admitted to by the suspect, there is still an obligation to extract data from that phone,” Jones said. “That would provide us data and images, time and date stamps when they were captured, where they were from and what sites he visited.”
Jones added, “We can’t just take your phone and get on it. We have to make an application for a search warrant then we can go in the phone. However, Wellsville PD has the ability to extrapolate information on a phone. They can file more charges or send it to an FBI police lab.”
The FBI offices in Buffalo have worked with local police departments to determine if the photos were of local minors or stock photos that get routinely passed around by text message or in messaging. Local doctors have also assisted by checking photos to help determine the age of minors in the photos.
