Waco man arrested after using Reddit to openly talk to underage girl and try to meet her for sex

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A Waco man was arrested after he found people he thought were sending sexually explicit content to an underage girl using a Reddit account and tried to meet them for sex, an affidavit states.

Ignacio Perez, 32, is charged with online solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

According to the affidavit, the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking/Child Exploitation Unit uses adult volunteers to create social media accounts posing as minors.

Volunteers using the accounts are taught how to talk to people, and if a conversation turns sexual, they are told to move the conversations to a county investigator’s county cell phone, where they pose as a minor and take over, the affidavit says.

The Aug. 26 affidavit states that a volunteer joined a Reddit community described as a group seeking “casual encounters.”

On Sept. 10, an account named “Late-Beautiful8528,” later identified as Perez, started a conversation with the volunteer, the affidavit states.

Early in the conversations, the affidavit alleged that Perez stated his age as 32, while the volunteer claimed that he would turn 16 in a few months.

The affidavit stated that during the conversations, Perez told the volunteer that they were posting on a page titled “use to find someone for sex” and that she should be careful about where she posts.

As the conversations progressed, sexual intercourse allegedly occurred, with Perez asking what she thought was underage for the nude photos, the affidavit said.

Realizing the conversations turned sexual, the volunteer gave Perez a phone number to continue talking and a county investigator took over the conversation, the affidavit states.

Within 10 minutes of the phone number being provided, the district investigator received a message from someone who identified himself as “Joe,” the affidavit states.

The county investigator maintained his identity as a minor, and Perez’s text continued to be sexually explicit.

About 30 minutes later, the affidavit alleges Perez sent a sexually explicit photo to the person he thought was a minor and asked when they could meet.

Perez offered to pick up the child and suggested meeting at Richland or the Marketplace mall, the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, Perez texted the county superintendent that the sexually explicit conversations continued until Sept. 11, and that the county superintendent reminded Perez that he was talking to a minor.

Through information gathered by authorities and the use of subpoenas related to the Gmail account used to create the “Late-Beautiful8528” Reddit account, it was determined that Perez was using the Reddit account to openly talk to the person who was thought to be a minor. the affidavit claims.

Perez was arrested and transported to McLennan County Jail, where he is being held on $10,000 bail.

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