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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A Texas man who allegedly engaged in an online sexual relationship with a 14-year-old Lewis County boy is jailed following his arrest on a $100,000 warrant.
The case was investigated last summer, charges were filed in June and law enforcement traveled to Dallas last week to pick up 31-year-old Lavon S. Sellers.
Sellers’ arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.
The teen was interviewed in August 2014 after his parents discovered the long distance romantic relationship over the phone and the Internet.
According to charging documents, the boy told a deputy he’d met Sellers a few weeks prior on a site called “Hot or Not” and the two communicated using KiK Messenger and Skype.
The boy said he’d initially told Sellers he was 16 but later confided he was actually 14. Sellers allegedly had plans to come to Washington and take the boy to Seattle, with a plan in which the teen would tell his parents he was staying with a friend.
Charging documents say deputies responded to the family home for a prescription drug overdose emergency after the boy was caught once more Skyping with Sellers after being ordered by his father not to.
It wasn’t until February of this year that the sheriff’s office confirmed one of the phones taken into evidence had images substantiating child exploitation, according to the court documents.
Sellers is charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, four counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of luring.
When he appeared before a judge on Thursday, Sellers’ temporary defense attorney said he worked at a foundry in Dallas – until his arrest – and had no criminal history.
The judge decided his bail should be $100,000, the same amount as the arrest warrant.
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