SHELBY COUNTY, Ind. — A Shelbyville man has been charged after he reportedly asked an underage girl for oral sex as payment after he took a relative and her friend to a concert.
According to court documents, filed in Shelby County, 46-year-old Stephen Cox has been charged with one count of promoting prostitution of a minor, a Level 4 felony, as well as a related misdemeanor. Officials claimed that Cox “knowingly and intentionally compelled the minor victim to commit a sex act for payment, through an unlawful proposition.”
In mid-September, a woman called the Shelbyville Police Department, claiming a man, later identified as Cox, had sent some “inappropriate texts” to her 16-year-old daughter. The girl who received the texts had gone to a concert with Cox’s relative as well as Cox, who was chaperoning.
After the concert, the 16-year-old went back to Cox’s relative’s home to stay the night. The documents said that later in the night, the girl reportedly received texts from Cox, stating that he was “lonely and horny.” Through these texts, Cox also reportedly asked the 16-year-old “for something… to help pay for things.”
“Don’t get mad please – it’s 2 letters,” the text, included in the court documents, said.
“(Cox) uses this deceptive language in the texts to ask (the girl) for oral sex in return for paying for expenses at the concert.”
After the girl received the texts, she reportedly called her mother to pick her up for the night. The documents said that the girl told police that she never felt uncomfortable around Cox before the texts.
When police reached out to Cox about the allegations, the documents said that Cox initially stated he would come to speak with police. However, Cox later said he “did not have anything to say in regards to this matter, and did not feel that there was anything that needed to be investigated.”
According to court documents, a pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 14 and a jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2024.
