Five Internet predators from Western and Central Pennsylvania have been arrested and charged with felonies for sexually propositioning undercover agents they thought were 13- and 14-year-old girls, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett.

The men were identified as Lahbib Hannoune, 30, of Glenshaw; Joseph Duane Tyger, 46, of Commodore, Indiana County; Nityanand Gopalika, 30, of State College, Centre County; Dominic J. Galliani, 44, Uniontown, Fayette County; and Harlan Gene King, 26, of Confluence, Somerset County. The men's arrests bring the number of arrests of online predators by the attorney general's child predator unit to 49 in 2009, a 40 percent increase in the number of cases compared to last year.

In all five cases, the attorney general's office said, the men approached undercover officers in Internet chat rooms and quickly steered the conversations toward sexual topics, including graphic descriptions of the sex acts in which they wanted to engage. Mr. Hannoune, Mr. Gopalika and Mr. Galliani also sent the "girls" webcam videos of themselves that showed them nude and masturbating. Mr. Tyger, Mr. Gopalika and Mr. King traveled to a predetermined meeting location in Cranberry to meet the "girls."

Mr. Galliani, Mr. King and Mr. Hannoune -- a native of Morocco and newly minted U.S. citizen -- were charged with unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a computer. Because Mr. Hannoune allegedly committed the crimes while visiting on a visa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reviewing his status in the country.

Mr. Tyger is charged with attempted unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a computer. Mr. Gopalika was charged with attempted unlawful contact with a minor, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a computer.