BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — Three men from Brazos County have been arrested for child sex crimes that are unrelated to each other.
Wayne Silva, 48, of Bryan, is facing three counts of possession of child pornography. Authorities said Silva knowingly had images that showed a child under the age of 18 engaging in activities that were sexual in nature.
Authorities with the Criminal Investigations Division and Child Exploitation Unit served a search warrant on September 24th. A tip to local authorities had come in due to a referral investigation from the Seattle, Washington Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Authorities in Seattle claim Silva was communicating with a 12-year-old girl from Seattle and he had received pictures and video of the girl that were sexual in nature.
Authorities questioned Silva, who allegedly admitted to talking with the girl using the social media app KIK Messenger. Authorities said they checked Silva's KIK account and found several images of the 12-year-old girl that would be identified as child pornography under the Texas Penal Code Chapter 43.
Authorities said Silva was shown images of the 12-year-old and he admitted he had received it through his KIK Messenger app.
At this time, Silva remains in the Brazos County jail on $36,000 bond.
Preston Smith, 22, of Bryan, is charged with three counts of possession of child pornography. Authorities said Smith knowingly possessed pictures and videos of children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts, some of whom are with adults.
Authorities with the Criminal Investigations Division and Child Exploitation Unit were tipped off by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) after they had received information from a cloud storage application. The cloud alerted NCMEC they had a user, later identified by authorities as Smith, who had uploaded several images of child pornography. Authorities said many of the images showed children under the age of 10 engaging in sexual acts and the cloud storage system had more than 1,600 pornographic files.
Authorities executed a search warrant on September 23 and seized several electronic devices from Smith's home. They said after questioning Smith, he allegedly admitted to creating the cloud storage account named by NCMEC and that he had been looking at the child pornography, including several that showed a girl under the age of 10, possibly as young as 4 years old, being sexually assaulted by an adult male.
Smith has been released from the Brazos County Jail on $36,000 bond.
Michael Leslie, 34, of College Station, is charged with online solicitation of a minor under the age of 14. Leslie is accused of using the social networking app Grindr to talk with a 10-year-old Brazos County girl, ask her to have sex with him and sent her pictures of his genitals. Leslie claims he didn't know the girl was 10 and thought she was 21.
Texas Rangers began an investigation on Leslie on July 23 after the Brazos County Sheriff's Office said they received a complaint from a Brazos County mother. The mother said her 10-year-old daughter had been talking with Leslie on Grindr and that Leslie and her daughter had been sending nude pictures and videos between the two of them.
According to court documents, Leslie and the 10-year-old girl began communicating through Grindr on July 6. Investigators said Leslie sent several images of his genitals to the girl and asked her if she wanted to have sex. They said Leslie sent a picture of his genitals after masturbating and asks her to identify the substance at one point. Leslie then allegedly asked the girl for her phone number and offered to take her for a walk at Brothers Pond Park.
On July 31, authorities did a traffic stop on Leslie while he was driving in College Station. After being read his rights, authorities said Leslie admitted to communicating with people on Grindr. He said he thought the girl he was talking to was joking about her age and appeared to him to be at least 21 years old. Leslie said when the girl began talking about her parents, he said he realized she may be younger and felt guilty.
According to court documents, Leslie allegedly admitted he had taken the photos and videos of himself while at his place of business in The Woodlands.
Leslie has posted $25,000 bond and has since been released from the Brazos County Jail.
