A 24-year-old Cincinnati man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl but who was actually an undercover police officer. Simon Roberts was booked into the Hamilton County Sheriff's facility on Thursday, August 27, and now faces charges of importuning and disseminating material harmful to minors.
Roberts appeared in court in Cincinnati the following day, according to WKRC, and his case is now scheduled to go before a grand jury on September 8. Authorities say the messages he sent were sexually explicit and directed at someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl, though the recipient was in fact an undercover officer. Roberts has been released on bond as the case moves forward.
What the Charges Mean Under Ohio Law
Under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.07, importuning covers using a telecommunications device to solicit sexual activity from someone law enforcement is posing as a minor under 16, and it is prosecuted as a felony. The statute explicitly establishes that a defendant's belief the target was a minor is enough to support charges, regardless of whether an in-person meeting ever took place.
The second charge against Roberts, disseminating material harmful to minors, falls under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.31. Under that law, transmitting sexually explicit material via text or other electronic media to someone believed to be a minor is classified as a first-degree misdemeanor, though it can escalate to a fourth- or fifth-degree felony carrying up to 12 to 18 months in prison if the content is deemed obscene.
Case Now Heads to a Hamilton County Grand Jury
Because Roberts is out on bond following his initial court appearance, his case now moves to the Intake Division of the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office. The upcoming September 8 grand jury date is a procedural milestone at which grand jurors will weigh the evidence and decide whether to issue a formal felony indictment in Common Pleas Court. Roberts remains legally presumed innocent unless and until he is indicted and convicted.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Local Stings
Roberts' case fits into a string of similar digital solicitation prosecutions Hamilton County authorities have brought over the past year. Last September, 24-year-old Likhith Nalla was arrested in Cincinnati on importuning charges after allegedly texting an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl and offering $100 for sexual acts, he was held on a $20,000 bond.
In March, 43-year-old Francis Kearse was charged with importuning and compelling prostitution after allegedly using Snapchat to arrange sexual encounters with a 16-year-old in Sharonville, a case that involved gift cards sent through mobile apps ahead of a planned meetup. The following month, 31-year-old Brandon Nguyen of Forest Park was arrested on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and pandering obscenity after investigators recovered explicit files from Snapchat, and he was held on a $100,000 bond.
In July, 26-year-old Troy Davis of Cheviot appeared in court facing ten counts of pandering sexually oriented matter after allegedly exchanging explicit material with users he believed were underage on messaging apps, landing him a $200,000 bond following digital forensics work. That same month, a College Hill man was sentenced to 13 to 16 years in a separate child sex case, and in June, a Cincinnati mother and stepfather were charged with rape, importuning, and grooming connected to the alleged abuse of a 14-year-old.
Nationally, the U.S. Department of Justice notes that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children funnels millions of digital CyberTips each year to state and local task forces, a system that helps trigger the kind of undercover decoy operations investigators used in the Roberts case and others like it across Hamilton County.
