PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An 18-year-old faces a dozen felony charges after allegedly targeting, grooming and luring an LGBTQ+ minor through an online chat room.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, Kellen Nicholson was arrested Thursday on numerous charges after a month-long investigation from the bureau’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit revealed a pattern of predatory online behavior.
Authorities say the investigation into Nicholson started after they received a tip about a suspect with child pornography, and a month later, investigators found evidence Nicholson had possessed and duplicated the illicit imagery.
Police say Nicholson then connected to an online chat room and groomed a 13-year-old, targeting the victim “based on many factors including their LGBTQ2S+ identity.”
The victim’s family didn’t know about what had happened online, PPB said.
Nicholson was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on 12 charges:
– Five counts of encouraging sex abuse in the first degree (duplication of child sex abuse imagery)
– Five counts of encouraging sex abuse in the second degree (possession with intent to view)
– Luring a minor (inducing the minor or purported minor to engage in sexual conduct)
– Online sexual corruption of a child in the second degree (knowingly uses an online communication to solicit a child to engage in sexual contact or sexually explicit conduct)
PPB did not immediately release any further details on the case.