A Tyler man, who police say posed as a teenager in an attempt to use social media to lure a girl he thought was 12, has been indicted on several charges, including two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and online solicitation of a minor.
A Smith County grand jury handed up six indictments June 9 for Luis Ortiz, 22, for the following offenses: indecency with a child (sexual contact), online solicitation of a minor, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, promoting, producing or directing a sexual performance of a child under 14 years old and tampering or fabricating physical evidence with the intention to impair, according to judicial records.
Ortiz was originally arrested for online solicitation of a minor and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child on April 13. With these additional charges, he remains in the Smith County Jail with bonds totaling $1.35 million.
He has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Thursday and a plea docket agreement set for Aug. 3, judicial records show.
According to an arrest affidavit, a 13-year-old girl told school officials in January a 17-year-old, who she knew as Luis, came to her house the previous night. A Snapchat message between the girl and Ortiz show that he was trying to have sex with her.
The girl told officials she refused and Ortiz tried to make her feel guilty about it, the affidavit stated.
She told Ortiz she was 12 years old at the time, while Ortiz, who was 22, said he was a 17-year-old high school student. A screenshot of their messages showed the girl telling Ortiz she was 12, the document read.
According to the affidavit, Ortiz began texting her last December, asking her inappropriate questions and making requests that were sexual in nature.
Investigators went to the high school and discovered he was not a current student. He attended the school years earlier, the affidavit stated.
When officers received records of his Snapchat account, several inappropriate photos of girls were found. When first contacted by police at his house, Ortiz said he didn’t have social media accounts. He claimed his Facebook account was hacked and he deleted his Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts, the affidavit read.
He then gave his Snapchat account username. He admitted that he told the girl he was 17 and a high school student. He confessed to sending nude photos with several people, but he could not remember if he sent them to this girl or if she sent any to him.
During the course of the investigation, Ortiz told detectives the victim was not the only young girl he had been in contact with.