Missouri man charged in sex case

A 19-year-old Missouri man was arrested after driving 560 miles to Winthrop Harbor twice in three days in an attempt to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, police said.

Patrick R. Tullis of Independence, Mo., is charged with indecent solicitation of a minor and unlawful possession of child pornography, but additional charges are expected after a forensic investigation of his computer is complete, authorities said.

The girls mother became alarmed after reading Facebook messages between her daughter and the man, who tried to lure her by posing as a guitarist in a rock band, Winthrop Harbor Detective Chris Willets said.

Tullis drove roughly 550 miles from his home to Winthrop Harbor on Sunday where he hung out with the girl and took her to a hotel room, Willets said. The girl got scared and left the room before anything happened. Her mother found out about the meeting on Monday and contacted police, Willets said.

Officers posing as the 13-year-old texted Tullis, who was back at his home in Missouri, on Monday and convinced him to meet at a hotel room on Tuesday to have sex, Willets said.

The man made the 550 mile trip a second time Tuesday to find officers waiting at the hotel, where he was placed under arrest, Willet said.

Police seized the man's phone as well as his computer, where they found images of naked underage females on both, Willets said.

Police said Tullis and the girl began talking in early November on Facebook, then through text messages and finally on the phone before meeting up.

This is the second time in the past two months that Tullis has been involved with an underage girl. Authorities in Missouri filed a missing juvenile report that stated a 15-year-old girl went missing in late October after meeting with Tullis at a skatepark. Authorities in Missouri could not be reached Wednesday night, but Winthrop Harbor police said the girl had returned home safely.

Winthrop Harbor Police Chief Joel Brumlik encouraged parents to monitor their teen's online activities to help prevent instances like this from happening.

“Online predatory activities normally increases while our children are not at school and parents are at work during the holidays,” he said. “Parents must never take anything for granted in this age of technological wonders, and be diligent in supervising their children.”