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WARREN -- A Liberty Township man was arraigned Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on obscenity charges involving a 16-year-old girl Niles McKinley High School student.
Marcus Aaron Washington, 28, of Trumbull Court, through his attorney, pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and interference with custody. Washington, who was arrested in January, was released from jail Feb. 11 after posting a $10,000 surety bond.
Washington is accused of soliciting nude photos from the student, who has an intellectual disability, and then attempting to sign her out of school on Nov. 17, 2021. Judge Ronald J. Rice ordered Washington not to have contact with the student or any minor without parental supervision and to stay off school property as terms of his release.
Washington, who was indicted earlier this month by a Trumbull County grand jury, could face up to two years in prison and an additional 90 days in jail if found guilty of all charges.
The man is accused of using the social media username Moses Luther King to chat with the student overnight, first on the dating application Badoo then on Snapchat, according to a police report. The student told police that she believed "Moses" was a 28-year-old man, and gave him her correct age during their online talks.
The report accuses the man of using suggestive language in asking for inappropriate photos from the girl. Among the photos sent were two nude pictures showing the student's buttocks, which the man kept on his phone, the report states.
According to the report, the girl told the man to sign her out for school so they could go to Target and he would buy her "whatever she wanted," then go to his house.
The report states the man tried to sign her out around 8 a.m. but a high school attendance officer looked to see if he was on the "authorized list" for student signouts. The man left school when he was refused authorization to sign out the student, the report states, leaving the property in a white Mercedes. After the incident, school officials called the girl's mother and the student to the office where the student told them what was happening.
After a police investigation, it was learned that Washington had the user name Moses Luther King on social media and owned a white 2009 Mercedes. Police matched a photo of Washington from the Law Enforcement Automated Database System to the app profile pictures and school surveillance video.