Kentucky man allegedly asked teen for sex days after getting probation in similar case
A Kentucky man allegedly sought sex with a teenage girl just days after being placed on probation for a similar offense, according to court records.
A federal task force officer swore out a criminal complaint last week in federal court charging that Nathaniel Johnson, 29, used the internet to try to get a minor to engage in sexual activity.
Johnson lived in Shelbyville when police first encountered him Dec. 10, according to a sworn statement from Matt Hedden, an investigator with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office working on a task force with the U.S. Secret Service.
Hedden said that while posing online as a 15-year-old girl as part of an undercover operation, he made contact through a chat service with a man later identified as Johnson.
Hedden said he was using a service that matches users based on key words or likes. He used the word Kentucky, according to the affidavit.
Johnson allegedly initiated talk of sex with the girl and asked to meet her for sex. The undercover persona told Johnson more than once that she was 15, but he “was undeterred and requested a date/time/place to pick her up,” Hedden said in the affidavit.
Johnson also sent unsolicited, explicit photos of himself to the person he thought was a 15-year-old girl, Hedden said.
Hedden set up a meeting with Johnson in Shelbyville. Police arrested him when he arrived, according to the affidavit.
Johnson left his children, ages 1 and 3, alone at home while he went to pick up the girl, Hedden said in his statement.
Police went to his home and arranged care for the children. When asked about the children, Johnson said he didn’t think he would be gone very long.
Johnson told police after he was arrested that he was just wanted a friend to hang out with and wasn’t looking to “do anything” with the girl.
As for the talk about sex, Johnson said he planned to “leave it up to her, if it went that far then it went that far,” Hedden said in the affidavit.
Johnson told police the incident was a “stupid decision on my part.”
Johnson was charged in state court. He pleaded guilty in Shelby County to using an electronic means to promote the use of a minor in a sexual performance, distributing obscene material and endangering the children.
He was sentenced on June 2 to three years in prison, with the sentence suspended, according to the court record.
Hedden said that five days later, on June 7, he was posing as a 14-year-old girl online when he again came in contact with Johnson, again using the word Kentucky on the service that matches people based on key words.
The two switched from an online chat to texting, and Johnson sent several photos of his face, Hedden said.
Johnson, who was by then living in Ashland, turned the conversation to sex in short order, saying “this is probably the only time I’ll ever see you naked if you wanna show,” as well as other comments, Hedden said.
Johnson told the person he thought was a teen girl that he had “gotten in trouble over this very thing . . . texting a minor,” according to the affidavit.
Johnson said he was on probation and that that authorities were going to monitor his phone, but that he had wifi service they didn’t know about, Hedden said.
Hedden said he made contact with Johnson online again on June 15 and Johnson made several sexual comments to a person he thought was an underage girl. Hedden swore out the criminal complaint on June 17
