A Campbell County man remains in jail after he was arrested last week on charges he was trying to solicit a girl over the Internet.
The 13-year-old girl turned out to be a Madison County sheriff’s investigator, according to a news release from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
George Harold Melton, 52, of Altavista, has been charged with nine counts of distribution of child pornography and five counts of child solicitation by a communication system, the release said.
He was being held at the Central Virginia Regional Jail without bond on Tuesday night, jail officials said.
Melton was arrested Thursday after sheriff’s officials in Madison and Campbell counties served a search warrant at his house, the release said.
An undercover investigation began after Melton allegedly started talking to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl in an Internet chat room, the release said.
The “teenager” was actually a Madison County sheriff’s investigator and a member of the Northern Virginia-Washington D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children task force, the release said.
Melton sent multiple images from his computer to the “teenager,” the release said.
He is scheduled to appear in Madison County Combined Court on July 7.