Adult accused of soliciting teens on MySpace

A man accused of using the Internet to have sexually explicit conversations with local teen girls is undergoing a mental evaluation and has had his next court date set for June.

James D. Moran Jr. is charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He is being held under $195,000 bond and will appear next in General Sessions court on June 10.

According to warrants filed in March by Deputy Todd Hammonds, of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, Moran allegedly exposed himself or sent "sexually explicit material via the Internet to females who ages range from 13 years of age to 17 years of age," which constituted the eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation.

The other five charges were filed because Moran allegedly "did have sexually explicit conversation with females via the Internet on MySpace Messenger," who were ages ranging from 13 to 17.

The difference between this case and those brought by Shelbyville investigators is that there were no law enforcement authorities posing as teen girls.

Hammonds told the T-G at the time that the sheriff's department had received information that Moran was allegedly soliciting teen girls via his computer. While taking an initial report from the complainants, Hammonds observed the conversations himself "that were very inappropriate," he said.

Moran's laptop computer was taken as evidence and was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for further analysis, Hammonds said.