The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office alerted the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team regarding an adult Jacksonville man who had allegedly attempted to lure and sexually corrupt a local teen.
According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office press release, the suspect and the underaged victim connected via the Snapchat “Quick Add” feature and the child’s parents learned of the communications on March 22nd before intervening, and reporting the incident to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
The child’s Snapchat account was then taken over by detectives with the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team who then learned that a 39 year old man identified as Anthony Nicholas Wheeler, of Jacksonville, was communicating sexually with the teen.
On Wednesday, March 26th, the suspect arranged to meet with a Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team detective posing as the teen.
Undercover detectives from multiple agencies including, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team, Oregon State Troopers, and the Medford Police Department positioned themselves at the suspect’s prearranged meet up location before the suspect arrived at the prearranged location in Medford.
The suspect, Anthony Nicholas Wheeler, was arrested by detectives without incident Wednesday evening on multiple charges including, first-degree online sexual corruption of a child, second-degree online sexual corruption of a child, and luring a minor and is lodged in the Jackson County Jail.
