A fourth-grade teacher has been charged with soliciting a two-year-old for sex. Investigators say that he used the internet to arrange a meetup with the two-year-old. Xavier Dante Alexander is facing charges of soliciting a minor for sex and traveling to meet a minor for sex. Essentially, the law punishes both the attempt to schedule a meet-up and taking one step toward actuating that meet-up.
The school district announced that they would be cooperating fully with investigators and said they were “shocked and appalled” by the allegations. The district said that although the victim was not a student and that none of his crimes were committed on school property, they would be reaching out to families to offer counseling services for anyone who needed them.
The PBSO said that they believed there were additional victims and hoped anyone with any type of interaction with Alexander would come forward. Nonetheless, there are a number of questions that need to be answered, such as how the investigation determined that Alexander was attempting to solicit a two-year-old.
How Do You Solicit a Two-Year-Old?
Two-year-olds cannot read or write so you can’t talk to them on the internet. If someone were to arrange a meetup between a predator and a two-year-old, the arrangement would require an intermediary, usually a guardian or parent who was making money off of exploiting their child for sex. So the solicitation could not happen with a two-year-old typing.
It is typical for police to target potential predators on social media. They will reach out to them from sock puppet accounts posing as children. The officer will then feign interest in the target and attempt to arrange a meet-up. When the target of the investigation agrees to the meet-up and then attempts to meet up with the child, they are arrested.
Nonetheless, information on how the arrest was made cannot be found in the cited article.
Solicitation of a Minor
Soliciting a minor for sex is a felony regardless of whether or not the person on the other end of the internet is a minor or not. Police, in these cases, only need to show that the perpetrator believed the child was a minor, so they usually try to slip in something like, “I’m only 14 though.” When the target decides to meet up with the child anyway, they can be tried for solicitation.
Solicitation involves any attempt to lure, seduce, or entice a minor for sexual purposes and is a third-degree felony. Additionally, if the person travels to meet the minor, even taking only one step out of their door, they can be charged with a separate crime of traveling to meet a minor, which is a second-degree felony. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years under the law.
Talk to a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Attorney
If you’ve been charged with a serious crime, call the West Palm Beach criminal attorneys at The Skier Law Firm, P.A. today to discuss your situation in more detail and allow us to go over your options.
Resource:
blackenterprise.com/fourth-grade-teacher-xavier-alexander-arrested-in-palm-beach-county-after-soliciting-two-year-old-for-sex/