Ryan Welch
Working alongside investigators from the Frederick County (MD) Sheriff’s Office, special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have obtained indictments for a Rhea County man accused of attempting to solicit sex from a minor online.
TBI agents received information about Victor Ryan Welch, 29, from authorities in Maryland last summer.
A Frederick County detective in the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit, posed as a 13-year-old online and Welch engaged in a prolonged chat to solicit sex, the TBI said.
On Monday, the Rhea County Grand Jury returned indictments, charging Welch with six counts of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means and two counts of solicitation of a minor - aggravated statutory rape.
On Tuesday night, Welch turned himself in to authorities in Rhea County, where he was booked at the county jail on $7,500 bond.