A 23-year-old Ventura County man has been arrested for allegedly sending explicit photos to a teenage girl in Carpinteria, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
Joel Arana of Fillmore was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail Tuesday on a felony county of sending harmful material to a minor with the intent to seduce, said sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars. Bail was set at $20,000.
A deputy on patrol observed Arana and the girl walking out of Marsh Park at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, a time when the girl presumably should have been in school.
The deputy learned that the girl had skipped classes to be with the Arana, whom she had met on the Internet, Sugars said. Further investigation revealed that Arana allegedly had sent sexually explicit photos from his cell phone to the girl’s cell phone.
When told that the suspect was 23 years old, the girl said that she was led to believe that he was younger, Sugars said.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.