LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Simpsonville man was arrested after police said he sent sexual text messages to someone who identified as an 11-year-old girl.
According to court documents, 39-year-old Steven Williams was arrested Sunday night by officers with the Simpsonville Police Department.
Police said they received a call from a monitor of the website ChatAve.com who said they'd received an anonymous report that a man was sending inappropriate messages to a minor. The monitor then shared screenshots of some of the messages shared between a phone number associated with Williams and a person claiming to be an 11-year-old girl.
In the messages, Williams allegedly asked for sexually explicit pictures of the minor and said that it could be "our little secret."
The monitor believed Williams and the girl met on ChatAve.com, then transitioned to text messages after swapping phone numbers.
While investigating the report, police said they received a call from Williams, who told them "he was being pranked by someone" and wanted to talk to police. He was then brought in to police headquarters and allowed police to review his phone and text message history.Â
When confronted with the screenshots, Williams allegedly admitted that he did send the messages and that he knew the person he was texting said they were an 11-year-old girl. He added that he sent a text message saying he "shouldn't be talking to you" and that he said this because he knew it was wrong.
Police said Williams had deleted the text messages, but police obtained a search warrant to retrieve them.
He was arrested and charged with attempted promotion of a minor under 16 in a sexual performance, conspiracy to procure or promote the use of a minor for a sexual performance by electronic means and facilitation to tampering of physical evidence.
He's currently being held in the Shelby County Detention Center.
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