HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tyrese Lancaster, 23, faces charges of internet stalking of a child and traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor after investigators say he arranged online to meet a 15-year-old girl at a Hot Springs motel.
The allegations against Lancaster are detailed in a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday, July 22, in Garland County Circuit Court.
According to the affidavit, Hot Springs police responded May 3 to the Red Carpet Inn at 1871 E. Grand Ave. for a reported sex offense. The girl’s mother told officers she learned her daughter had left a friend’s house with a man on a motorcycle and tracked the teen’s phone to the motel.
People at the motel directed the mother to a room, where a man opened the door, said the girl was not there and closed it, the affidavit states. The mother continued knocking and said she was going to call police. The girl eventually came out of the room, and the man tried to leave with his motorcycle. A relative recorded him leaving.
Officers obtained a copy of the driver’s license used to rent the room, which identified Lancaster, according to the affidavit. The mother identified Lancaster as the man in the room.
The girl was later interviewed at the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center. She said she had been talking with a 23-year-old man she knew as “Javion” through Snapchat and text messages and told him she was 15, the affidavit states. She said the man told her he wanted to have sex with her, made a plan to come to Hot Springs and rent a room, picked her up from her friend’s house the day of the incident and took her to the motel, where he kissed her and touched her.
Investigators seized the girl’s phone the day of the incident and searched it under a separate warrant. The affidavit states the phone contained sexual messages between the girl and a contact saved as “Ja’von (23) Ben’Ben,” along with a sexually explicit video in which the sender’s face was visible. The investigator identified the man in the contact photo and video as Lancaster.
A warrant was issued for Lancaster on charges of internet stalking of a minor and traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor. He was arrested July 9 and, after being advised of his rights, admitted he met the girl through social media and had been texting her, according to the affidavit.
Lancaster was in possession of a red iPhone when he was arrested, and police seized the device. A circuit judge signed a warrant July 14 authorizing a forensic search of the phone for messages, images, location data and other records.
Internet stalking of a child is a felony under Arkansas Code 5-27-306. Lancaster remains in Garland County jail.
Charges are accusations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
