Deputy confronts man accused of sending sexually harassing texts to eighty-five year old victim

Last weekend, after having already received complaints in the past about sexually explicit and harassing calls and text messages that were being received by an eighty-five year old North Lawrence woman, a deputy confronted the individual who had allegedly been sending the messages.

The victim’s son flagged down a passing Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputy on Saturday to report the matter. He said that he had filed a similar complaint with the department around a month prior that involved the same individual.

The victim told the deputy that she had begun receiving the calls and messages again on Thursday. Although she had repeatedly told the man to stop calling and texting her, she said he continued to do so. Some of the calls referred to the man “looking for a girlfriend” while some of the messages were sexually explicit.

The deputy was able to obtain the number from which the messages were sent and got the address of the forty-four year old man who had previously been identified as the person harassing the victim. He made his way to the man’s Gallaher Boulevard home in Lawrenceburg and was able to speak with him. The deputy called the number listed on the text messages and reports that the suspect’s phone began to ring, verifying that the messages had been sent from his phone.

The deputy reports that he discussed the matter with the suspect, explaining that the victim and her family were willing to seek prosecution at this point. He told him that, should the harassment continue, he would likely be arrested. He reports that the suspect stated “he did not want to go to jail.” The deputy advised him to cease the harassment and “use his phone for only the people he personally knows.”