GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Kentwood man accused of coercing a girl to send nude photos of herself, and paying her through a mobile payment service, is facing federal charges that could put him in prison for many years.
Felony information accuses 30-year-old Timothy Edward Sweeney of attempted sex trafficking of a minor and coercion and enticement of a minor.
The offenses started in April of 2020 when the girl was 15 and continued though late January of 2021, federal court records show.
Sweeney “paid (the girl) using the Cash App to produce and send him child pornography,’’ federal court records show.
The girl told investigators that she started talking with Sweeney on Instagram in April of 2020. Sweeney paid her through Cash App for nude photographs, according to a criminal complaint.
She sent Sweeney “approximately 100 photos of herself and was paid approximately $700 or $800,’’ the complaint states.
For some of the photos, Sweeney instructed the girl to “squat down, show her braces and to have her hair in a ponytail,’’ court records show.
The photos were sent directly through Instagram, or by clicking a link provided by Sweeney, and uploading them to a website, according to the criminal complaint.
Sweeney told the girl he was using the photos for his own sexual gratification. He also offered to pay the girl money to engage in sex acts with him, but the girl declined, investigators said.
“He asked her approximately 20 times to perform sex acts on him,’’ according to court records. He also tried to convince the girl to sneak out of her house and told her he would pick her up, investigators wrote.
Sweeney “begged’’ the girl to convince a 15-year-old friend to take nude photos together. He paid approximately $100 for photos showing one of the girls completely nude and the other topless, court records show.
The offenses occurred in Kent, Kalamazoo, Allegan and St. Joseph counties, court records show.
Sweeney works as a machinist and has no prior criminal record, court documents show. He has a plea hearing scheduled this week in federal court in Grand Rapids.
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