A
Greenback man was jailed this week on a human trafficking charge
after police said he solicited a 16-year-old girl for sex.
Michael Paul Marshall, 38, Old Niles Ferry Road, was
charged Thursday with human trafficking for commercial sex acts and
failure to pay child support.
He is being held in lieu of bonds totaling $250,500
pending 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday hearings in Blount County
General Sessions Court.
Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies began
investigating April 2 after a Maryville woman reported that Marshall
tried soliciting a teenage girl in her home, according to a police
report.
The girl told the woman Marshall had been sending her
inappropriate messages via Facebook and text messaging. The
Maryville woman said she checked the girl’s phone and found numerous
attempts Marshall made “to get her alone with him, smoke marijuana
and touch her,” the report stated.
The girl said Marshall never touched her
inappropriately, though when she was younger the two were “playing
around” and she now was unsure about his intentions, deputies said.
Police were not able immediately to locate
Marshall. He was arrested Thursday at a residence on Janeway
Road, jail records show.
BCSO spokeswoman Marian O’Briant said Marshall is
not part of a larger human trafficking ring in Blount County.
The basis of the charge appears to be in the manner of
communication, which was solely between Marshall and the girl,
she said.
“I think it has something to do with the way they
were communicating,” O’Briant said. “The way that he was going
about doing it.”