Albert Lea man arrested on child solicitation charges
Photo illustration: courts and crime / MGN
(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man appeared in Freeborn County Court Thursday on charges of sexting a child.
Stephen Brian Besco, faces two felony charges of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct through electronic communication, and engaging in electronic communication relating to or describing sexual conduct with a child.
In February of this year, Freeborn County law enforcement received a report from a woman in the area that a man she believed was Stephen Brian Besco was sending sexual messages to her 14-year-old child using Snapchat.
Besco, 32, allegedly sent explicit messages to the child, talked about liking “a young girl” and also messaged about getting in trouble if anyone found out about the messages, according to court documents.
According to court records, Freeborn County law enforcement determined that the date of birth, email address, and phone number associated with one of the Snapchat accounts used matched Besco’s information.
Besco allegedly told Freeborn County law enforcement that his account had been hacked.
His next court appearance had not been scheduled Thursday, June 6.