Federal Grand Jury Indicts Second Man Charged in Centre County Child Sex Trafficking Case

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted second man charged last year in a child sexual abuse and human trafficking case in Centre County.

Michael H. Woomer, 67, of Taylor Township is now facing federal charges of production of child pornography and conspiracy to produce child pornography.

He joins Morris W. Reese, 65, of Blair County, as defendants in the superseding indictment. Reese was originally indicted on federal conspiracy charge in June and now also faces two counts of producing child pornography.

The indictment alleges that between 2024 and 2025 Reese produced child pornography with two minor victims, Woomer produced the material with one minor victim between and that they conspired with others to do so.

Woomer’s first appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is scheduled for Tuesday in Williamsport. Reese previously pleaded not guilty.

They are among four men, along with Samuel C. Friday, 68, and James S. Kobuck, 62, who were arrested in November and December 2025 on state charges accusing them of sexually abusing teenage girls and recording the encounters for years inside a Centre County home.

Neither Friday nor Kobuck have been federally charged.

Friday, who state police and the Centre County District Attorney’s Office identified as the ringleader, pleaded in Centre County Court on Oct. 5 to two felony counts each of trafficking of minors and producing child sexual abuse material and one felony count of sexual assault.

He will receive what is effectively a life sentence of 30 to 60 years in state prison, subject to the approval of Judge Julia Rater at a Jan. 19 sentencing hearing.

Friday admitted to “a course of conduct subjecting minors to sexual servitude,” paying two teenage girls to engage in sexual acts with him and others in the basement of his home over a period of four years. During that time, Friday took hundreds of photos and videos of the girls engaged in sexual acts, according to his plea’s statement of facts.

The four men were chargd after state police investigators, acting on multiple tips, found thousands of digital and analog videos and photos of juveniles engaged in sexual acts in Friday’s basement. Prosecutors said that investigators also discovered a bed, provocative outfits, a wall-mounted digital camera and sex toys.

Multiple witnesses told investigators that Friday and Reese enticed victims with money and entertainment and transported them to Friday’s home, where the men propositioned them to perform sexual acts, according to affidavits of probable cause.

The victims resided in neighboring Blair County, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said, and based on evidence and some allegations, investigators suspect Friday may have been engaging in the conduct since the early 1990s.

One of the girls, now 18, said at a preliminary hearing that she had known Friday and Reese since she was a child and that the sexual abuse began when she was 14. She said that she “gave up” and did not know what would happen if she did not comply, according to WJAC.

Reese and Woomer each contended they were told the girls involved were 18 at the time.