Jenks police arrested a 29-year-old man after they say he sent inappropriate Facebook messages to a 14-year-old girl.
Blake Ryan Lewis was arrested after Jenks police conducted an investigation prompted by a report from the girl's parents. The parents allegedly discovered "obscene" conversations between Lewis and their daughter and notified police approximately two months ago. Police reviewed the messages and "didn't feel like [they were] appropriate." They contacted the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office, who said the conversations "bordered on criminal activity."
In order to further investigate the claims, an officer took over the girl's Facebook account, continuing to pose as the girl in messages to and from Lewis. The decoy says that Lewis escalated the conversations, sending pictures, asking for pictures, and "just seeing how far she would go." No sexually explicit images were exchanged.
In order to arrest the suspect, police set up a sting at an apartment by having the decoy, posing as the girl, inviting Lewis over and saying that her parents would not be home. When Lewis was informed that her parents would not be home, he reportedly replied that he wanted to see her and give her "birthday kisses."
When Lewis arrived at the apartment, Jenks police arrested him on complaints of lewd proposals to a child under 16 and soliciting a minor by use of technology. He was booked into the Tulsa County Jail Friday morning and subsequently released on $40,000 bond.
Upon arrest, Lewis reportedly told investigators that he was just trying to be the girl's friend, and that he never would have "crossed the line" and done anything sexual with the girl.
The suspect is a youth soccer coach in Tulsa; however, the Tulsa Soccer Club terminated its relationship with him after the arrest. He is also the founder of Premier Skills Training, a youth soccer training program. He was not, however, the girl's coach, and there is no evidence that he was involved in inappropriate contact with any players.
Lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child under 16 is punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison if the minor is aged 12 or older. If the child is under the age of 12, the crime is punishable by 25 years to life in prison. In either case, conviction requires lifetime sex offender registration.
Soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology is a felony punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and 25 years of sex offender registration.
From a criminal defense standpoint, this case is interesting because police launched an investigation based on "inappropriate" and "borderline" behavior--not based on evidence that any law was actually broken or any crime committed. Rather, police began the investigation and allowed it to allegedly escalate to a crime. One wonders what would happen if the parents had simply confronted the suspect and told him not to contact their daughter anymore. Could this act have prevented such an escalation? Would a warning have been enough to simultaneously save a girl from sexual exploitation and save a man from criminal prosecution?
It seems likely that the defendant's attorney will look long and hard for evidence of entrapment.
