A Walnutport man was arrested March 31 and has since been indicted on federal charges alleging he used his cellphone to try to arrange a paid sexual encounter with an 11-year-old girl and possessed child pornography.

Ryan D. Holota, 30, faces one count of using an interstate commerce facility to attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct and one count of possession of child pornography, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Holota was taken into custody at the Econo Lodge in Quakertown after arriving to meet what he believed was a mother willing to sell access to her child.

A grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday.

The case began Jan. 28, when an FBI confidential source turned over screenshots of a text message from a number traced to Holota. “Do you know anyone who has kids for the offer? I’m looking for young,” Holota allegedly wrote in that initial message, according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Nicole Canales. “I’ll pay if you know,” he added.

The FBI then gave the source a number belonging to an online covert employee, or OCE, posing as the mother of an 11-year-old girl. When the undercover agent told him she and her daughter were available for services, Holota responded, “It’s on my bucket list,” according to the affidavit. He then requested “full service” and agreed to pay $400 an hour.

Over the following weeks, Holota exchanged dozens of messages with the undercover agent negotiating the terms of the encounter, asking for photographs of the child and, on at least one occasion, sending a photograph of himself to prove his identity, according to the affidavit. When the undercover agent hesitated to send explicit images, Holota wrote, “I’m not a creep or a bad person. I make an honest living. I’m just curious,” according to the affidavit.

“If I want pics I’ll just use the darkweb for it. I want proof. Totally different from just wanting pics. Just want to avoid jail,” Holota wrote in a February exchange, according to the affidavit.

The negotiations stretched across two months, with Holota repeatedly asking to reschedule and at one point offering to double the price, $800 an hour,

to meet sooner, court documents show.

A meeting was ultimately arranged for the evening of March 31 at the Econo Lodge in Quakertown, a location Holota helped select after rejecting meeting spots in Bensalem and King of Prussia as too far from Allentown.

“I promise I won’t do anything sketchy if you don’t. Just been burned in the past,” Holota wrote to the undercover agent as they finalized the plan, according to the affidavit.

That afternoon, surveillance agents tracked Holota departing a movie theater in Center Valley. He stopped at a convenience store and then a Giant supermarket before driving to the hotel. When he arrived at approximately 6:13 p.m. and texted “Here,” he was taken immediately into custody, according to the affidavit.

Agents recovered an Apple iPhone from Holota at the time of his arrest. The grand jury indictment alleges the phone contained images of child sexual abuse material, including images of prepubescent children and children under the age of 12.

Employment records show Holota has worked as a baggage handler for Allegiant Air at Lehigh Valley International Airport since January 2024.

As part of the indictment, the government is also seeking forfeiture of a Seagate hard drive and an Apple iPhone 16 allegedly connected to the offenses.