Man charged in Blount child porn probe
From Staff Reports
A Knoxville man is charged with two counts of child pornography following a joint investigation by the Blount County Sheriff’s Office HEAT (Hi-Tech Evidence and Technology) Unit, Lenoir City Police Department and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office.
Martin Sales-Velasquez, 33, is in custody at the Blount County Correctional Facility on bonds totaling $100,000, according to a Sheriff’s Office press release.
Sales-Velasquez is charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and solicitation of aggravated statutory rape.
Investigators with the HEAT Unit, along with the Lenoir City Police Department and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, as part of ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children), conducted a two-week investigation on Sales-Velasquez. The investigation concluded Thursday when investigators arrested Sales-Velasquez outside of a market in Lenoir City.
Sales-Velasquez arrived at the market with the intentions of meeting a 15-year-old girl he previously met in person, and then communicated with her by way of the Internet and cellphone for the past few weeks.
During the interview following his arrest, Sales-Velasquez admitted he arranged the meeting in hopes of having sexual relations with the teenage girl.
He will appear in Blount County General Sessions Court at 9 a.m. Friday.
