A University of Tennessee football player is charged with engaging in an online sexual conversation with whom he believed was a 14-year-old girl. He was arrested on one count of using prohibited computer services and four counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
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The county includes the cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg just west of Tampa. Mackenzie James Crowder, 23, was arrested Tuesday night.
The Bristol, Tennessee, native was released on $50,000 bail.
Crowder met the “teen” online and during the course of several conversations sent four sexually explicit photographs to her, deputies said.
Detectives said that during the interview, Crowder admitted to sending the photos and admitted having knowledge that he was communicating with whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
The “girl” turned out to be an investigator with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
The law is also known as the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.
Crowder was targeted as part of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s “Operation Wayfarer”, which entailed Special Victims Unit officers pretending to be minors soliciting sex for adult males on various forums from January 20-24.
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Crowder appeared in 11 games for Tennessee last season but made only three starts a season after serving as the Vols’ starting center.
