A Crossville man was arrested and charged on a criminal court warrant for aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor charges after authorities were contacted during an undercover operation on the Internet.
Sam R. Bowling Jr., 35, of 17 Millstream was arrested on the charges Nov. 16 by Crossville Police Major Mark Rosser.
According to Rosser's report he began an investigation on Bowling after he was contacted by Detective Sgt. James McLaughlin of the Keene, New Hampshire Police Department on Sept. 21 this year.
McLaughlin, who works with sex crime cases and child exploitation crimes, told Rosser he works to detect offenders on social networking sites by placing a fictitious profile of a 14-year-old male.
Rosser reported that McLaughlin called him and reported a 35-year-old man from Crossville had contacted the fictitious 14-year-old and was having sexually explicit online conversations back and forth with him.
McLaughlin reported to Rosser the name of the 35-year-old was Sam Bowling.
According to Rosser's report, McLaughlin said Bowling had sent pictures of himself and pictures that could be defined as child pornography to the fictitious 14-year-old.
With this information Rosser obtained a search warrant for Bowling's home and computer systems and executed the search warrant on Sept. 30.
Rosser reported he and another officer searched Bowling's home at 17 Millstream Apt. 4 and seized several computer systems and storage devices. Rosser took the items to a Nashville crime lab where a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) analyst searched the computers and storage devices and found hundreds of pictures "that would be defined as child pornography."
Rosser's report states, "The analyst also found child pornography movies and the explicit online conversations between Sam Bowling Jr. and the fictitious child."
Rosser reported he arrested Bowling Nov. 16 at the Crossville Police Department and he was transferred to the Cumberland County Justice Center where he was booked on the charges.
Bowling was released after posting a $30,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Criminal Court Nov. 25.
The case remains under investigation.
