Sunday, April 19, 2009

Melvin Middleton - Repeat Sex Offender - Internet Predator


St. Tammany Sheriff’s deputies traveled to Saginaw, Mich., last month to arrest a man who was using the Internet to solicit sexual favors from a 13-year-old girl in Covington.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said that in early March, the girl’s mother discovered evidence that her daughter was communicating with an out-of-state adult man through a social networking Web site. The mother also found that the two had also sent text messages to each other. All the communications allegedly had inappropriate text messages, e-mails and pictures, Bonnett said.

The mother went to the Sheriff’s Office, who investigated and traced the messages back to Melvin Middleton, 31, of Saginaw.

An arrest warrant was issued for Middleton, and the Saginaw police took him into custody. Deputies flew up to Michigan on March 19 and brought Middleton back, where he was booked on a charge of computer-aided solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes. Bonnett said Middleton is still in the St. Tammany Jail under a $25,000 bond.

Bonnett said Middleton is a convicted sex offender and is on the registry for sex offenders in Saginaw.

Since this is not Middleton’s first time being arrested as a sex offender, if convicted, he faces a prison sentence of between 10 to 20 years without benefit of parole, probation of suspension of sentence.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte

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