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NEWPORT — A middle-aged man was arrested last week in Newport for sexting a teenage girl.
David Micheal Bullock, 42, of Sandpoint was arrested Wednesday, June 3 for immoral communication with a minor. Conducted over text, the communication between Bullock and the minor involved requests for acts of a sexual nature, said Wade Nelson, Newport Police Department chief.
Bullock is charged with a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. Immoral communication with a minor is considered a felony if the perpetrator has previously been convicted with immoral communication with a minor or a felony sexual offense.
“The charge that we’re doing, it’s more the actual communications,” Nelson said. “Because it’s hard to prove other things without witnesses or other types of evidence to go with it.”
For around a week in March, Bullock and the victim stayed in the same room at a local hotel, according to Nelson. He said they were alone together, with the victim’s family’s knowledge.
The victim’s family had met Bullock soon before the hotel stay. Despite red flags, the victim’s mother allowed her to stay with him “due to the dynamics of what that family is,” Nelson said.
Concerned about the situation, somebody called for a welfare check, and NPD officers responded Thursday, March 26. The same day, Bullock left the area.
At the time, NPD did not have enough probable cause to arrest Bullock, though they later discovered that he had been texting the victim for months, Nelson said.
“Those kinds of charges, because it’s texts and phones, it usually can take a little bit longer to get that information to be able to get the probable cause to arrest,” Nelson said.
Bullock was arrested in Idaho on unrelated charges. Though NPD officers had probable cause to arrest Bullock as well, they were required to wait until he had settled his legal affairs in Idaho, where law enforcement was holding him.
That wait ended Wednesday, June 3, when Bullock was transported to the Pend Oreille County Jail and arrested. NPD is still investigating other possible charges, Nelson said.
Bullock’s arraignment is scheduled on Thursday, June 11 at Pend Oreille County Superior Court.
