DAYTON – Working alongside investigators from the Frederick County (MD) Sheriff’s Office, Special Agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have obtained indictments for a Rhea County man accused of attempting to solicit sex from a minor online.
TBI Agents received information about Victor Ryan Welch (DOB: 11-12-90) from authorities in Maryland last summer. There, a Frederick County detective in the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit, posed as a 13-year-old online and Welch engaged in a prolonged chat to solicit sex.
On Monday, the Rhea County Grand Jury returned indictments, charging Welch with six counts of Soliciting Sexual Exploitation of a Minor by Electronic Means and two counts of Solicitation of a Minor – Aggravated Statutory Rape. On Tuesday night, Welch turned himself in to authorities in Rhea County, where he was booked at the county jail on $7,500 bond.
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