By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
“Wow this is jail time,” a Lindsay man allegedly wrote in a social media message to a Canadian County sheriff’s investigator he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
The 30-year-old man, Steven Wesley Hill II, does face significant jail time after being charged with making lewd/indecent proposals to a child under 16. The felony charge is punishable by three to 20 years in prison.
The Canadian County District Attorney’s Office formally charged Hill with the crime March 18 after an undercover investigation by the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors allege the defendant in November 2019 violated state law by “feloniously sending electronically generated lewd proposals” to the undercover sheriff’s deputy he believed to be under age 16 “to have unlawful sexual relations,” court documents show.
Deputy Chelsea Adkins, a certified computer forensics examiner assigned to work child exploitation cases, conducted the undercover investigation on Nov. 7, 2019 using Facebook. She portrayed herself as a 14-year-old female from the Oklahoma City area of Canadian County.
She was contacted by the defendant at 10:03 a.m. that day through Facebook Messenger.
“Hill advised he is 30 years-old,” according to a probable cause affidavit signed by deputy Adkins. “I immediately advised Hill I am 14 years-old.
“Hill stated ‘wow this is jail time’ but continued the conversation.”
The chat between the defendant and the sheriff’s investigator (posing as the minor girl) immediately became sexually graphic after it moved to the Hangouts app, according to the affidavit.
Hill allegedly sent a picture of his private parts and a lewd video after asking for a sexually suggestive video of her.
Deputy Atkins made a screen recording on her undercover cellular device of the Hangouts conversation. The sheriff’s investigator on Dec. 2 positively identified Hill during a video chat.
Canadian County Special Judge Khristan Strubhar has issued a warrant for Hill’s arrest, setting bond at $25,000.
The case has been assigned to Canadian County Special Judge Paul Hesse.
