A Utah State Prison corrections officer has been accused of sending sexually explicit messages through a social media website to a law enforcement officer posing as a 13-year-old.
On Dec. 11, Ross Marco Cameron, 35, was arrested on suspicion of enticing, soliciting, seducing or luring a minor over the internet. Formal charges have not been filed.
Cameron had been a correctional officer for two years before he was placed on administrative leave — pending an investigation — on Dec. 12, confirmed Utah State Prison spokeswoman Maria Peterson.
Cameron is accused of exchanging sexually explicit messages with a user he thought was a 13-year-old on a social media site, according to a probable cause statement. But that user was a law enforcement officer. The statement does not say if the police officer was posing as a girl or a boy.
During a conversation on Oct. 31, Cameron allegedly wrote, “I probably get in trouble talking to you ha ha,” and “I just want to make sure your not like a cop or something haha,” according to the probable cause statement.
During another conversation with the fictional 13-year-old — but through a different social media account — Cameron allegedly asked for nude photos, to prove he was not conversing with a law enforcement officer, the document states.
Cameron made arrangements to meet the so-called 13-year-old, but was arrested instead.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations had been working on Cameron’s case with the FBI on its Child Exploitation Task Force.
