Man accused of 'sexting' 12-year-old

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A 28-year-old man has been arrested and accused of online solicitation of a minor with intent to meet for sex -- with a 12-year-old girl.

A school principal contacted Austin Independent School District police, and told them a teacher from Pleasant Hill Elementary School found a student texting an adult man during class.

He was later identified as Gerber Guevara-Silva, 28, a native of El Salvador.

The teacher had taken the cell phone from the student because it is against school rules to text in class. She noticed the text message that was displayed appeared to be from a male, who wrote the student he was going to pick her up from school around noon.

While looking at the phone with the girl’s permission, the teacher found the language used in the texts between Silva and the girl indicated they were in a romantic relationship. They had exchanged nude photos and other images, which suggested they were going to meet at a nearby motel.

AISD and Austin Police Department officers contacted Silva at the time and place where he and the girl were supposed to meet.

The girl’s mother did not know of Silva. She said her daughter did not have permission to leave school or go anywhere with an adult. She was unaware that her daughter had a cell phone, according to the police affidavit.

When interviewed by the police, Silva said she met the girl on Facebook and that she had told him she was 17. He mailed her the cell phone she was using at the time, he told police.

According to the affidavit, Silva admitted he had met with her the previous day at Red Roof Inn with the intention of having sex. But when he met her, the document said, he could tell she wasn’t 17, and he declined to go forward with the encounter.

Instead, the affidavit said, he planned to meet her the next day during lunchtime to talk with her.

The girl told police she had met Silva the previous summer. At the time, she said she told Silva she was 11. After they met, they had stayed in touch through Facebook.