On Monday, a Lowgap man was charged with the first-degree assaulting sexual exploitation of a minor girl.
Jacob Grey, alias Jake Shelton aged about 24 years resident of 280 Watershed Road, was imprisoned in the Sury County Jail located at Mount Airy. He is being held under a $100,000 secured bond.
The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor had been filed through the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
Larry Lowe, an official of the Surry Sheriff’s office, asserted that the investigation was going on in Watershed Road since October after consolidating information from the detective who handled the case.
Due to its sensitive nature, no further details were released, including the alleged victim’s age or any specifics regarding the accusation.
“The case is marked as a juvenile (matter), and that’s the reason why we can’t release anything else,” Lowe explained.
Under state law, the offence of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor can be issued against a person who uses, employs, induces, coerces, encourages or facilitates a minor to engage in or assist others in sexual activity.
This can include doing so for the purpose of producing material containing a visual representation depicting that.
The charge also applies to a person who permits a minor under his custody or control to engage in such sexual acts or records photographs, films, develops or duplicates for sale or pecuniary gain material, which includes a visual representation of the activity.
The law states that a mistake of age is not a defence to prosecution in such a case.
According to previous reports, in January 2019, the Lowgap man was facing three charges of assault on a female.
