An Iowa man was arrested recently for allegedly trying to meet up with a minor after communicating with the child.
Timothy Eugene Charters Jr., 26, Altoona, Iowa, is charged with child solicitation, a level 5 felony; and dissemination of matter harmful to minors, a level 6 felony.
He was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 11:17 a.m. Tuesday on a $40,250 preliminary bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 12 dispatch was advised of a man, later identified as Charters, who attempted to meet with a minor for sex in Warsaw.
A Warsaw Police Department officer responded and spoke with a woman who said Charters messaged who he thought was a 13-year-old girl and immediately sent multiple photographs of his genitals. Charters communicated with her for a few hours.
The woman provided the text conversation that showed the girl - who was actually a decoy - said she was almost 14. Charters invited the decoy to meet him to “chill” and sent the decoy some sexual messages.
The officer stood by Charters and Charters said he didn’t know what he was thinking and he should have stopped right there when the decoy told him her age.
Charters told a WPD detective he was from Iowa and was in Warsaw for work. Charters met the decoy through an app and her profile said she was 18. They communicated through texts.
Charters said through texts, the decoy told him she was 14 and the conversation centered around sexual content. Charters admitted he sent nude photographs of himself to the decoy, according to court documents.
Charters consented to a forensic download of his cell phone that showed he first communicated with the decoy on Jan. 11 on the app, asked for a photograph of the decoy and provided his cell phone number. The communication switched to text messages and continued to Jan. 12.
The detective obtained a transcript of the text messages between Charters and the decoy.