A 22-year-old Hesston man was arrested Feb. 2 during a sex sting after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to a 14-year-old Hesston girl.
Brett E. Swartzendruber of Hesston allegedly had been exchanging text messages with the girl when the messages turned sexual, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said.
The girl’s parents alerted the sheriff’s department. They set up a sting. Swartzendruber allegedly fell for the sting and showed up to meet the girl, where he was arrested.
He has been charged with sexual exploitation of a child and indecent solicitation of a child.
Walton said this was the first such sting to be run in the county. However, he said the prevalence of text messaging means this type of activity is becoming more of a concern.
Walton said he worked a similar case while at the Newton Police Department in which a group of Newton girls were communicating via computer with a man in California.
“They were getting money together to get on a plane and go out there and meet him,” Walton said. “We got that shot down.”
Another trend among teens is “sexting,” which involves children sending nude pictures of themselves over the Internet or a cell phone.
“It is dangerous, because if the child is under 18, we are dealing with child pornography,” Walton said.
Walton continues to work with the Online Sex Case Apprehend Remove program, and this case will fall under that auspice.
The victims’ parents in the Swartzendruber case did the right thing, Walton said, by coming to law enforcement and not erasing the text messages.
The text messages are important evidence law enforcement needs in building a case against the suspect, he said.
Walton also said he plans on working with local schools to educate young people on the dangers of online liaisons, and the Heart to Heart Child Advocacy Center is assisting in interviewing victims.
