LA PORTE – A 25-year-old Indiana man has been arrested and charged after police say he traveled to La Porte to meet with a 15-year-old girl he had been communicating with online for several years.
Ryan Alexander Steele has since been charged with online solicitation of a child for the purpose of sexual intercourse and attempted sexual assault of a child.
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According to court documents, on Sunday, March 26, Steele arrived in the La Porte area in hopes of meeting up with the girl for the weekend.
Court documents say Steele arrived at the teen’s grandparents’ house in a white truck and asked the grandfather for the teen. The grandparents, who became worried after the encounter, said they contacted the teen’s parents and police.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Steele had been communicating with the teen that he met on an online gaming website for about five years, dating back to when she was just 10 years old.
The teen told investigators that when she first met Steele online, she informed him of her age, to which he responded that he was in his 30s.
Court documents showed that over the last two months, the conversation between Steele and the teen turned sexual, with plans for him to travel from Indiana to Texas to pick up the teen for sex.
When investigators checked the teen’s phone, they said they found Instagram messages and text messages shared between her and Steele, showing how he planned to come to Texas, and take the teen back to Indiana to live with him.
One of the several text messages sent from Steele read: “So I got a couple of questions you can answer them whenever. When you move in do you want your own room or do you want my room to become our room?”
Investigators also found several explicit photos stored in the teen’s photos, some of which officers believe were sent to Steele via social media and text messages.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is working to determine if Steele will face more charges.