photo by: Mike Yoder

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

A Lawrence man sexually exploited multiple girls by requesting they take and send him nude photos of themselves, police said in an affidavit supporting the man’s arrest.

Last month, Jonathan D. Micco, 28, was arrested and charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, all felonies.

The Journal-World requested and recently received from Douglas County District Court the affidavit prepared by police in support of his arrest.

According to the affidavit:

Micco chatted with at least three different girls on Facebook whom he asked to take and send him nude photos. The girls were between the ages of 13 and 17 when the exchanges occurred in 2014 and 2015.

Lawrence police identified and interviewed those three girls.

One — who said she was 13 when she began sending photos — told police she met “Jonathan” on Facebook and conversation “got sexual and stuff.” She said she sent him about 100 nude photos, in response to his requests for increasingly graphic pictures and poses.

The two other girls told police that they, too, talked to “Jonathan” on Facebook and sent him nude photos.

Lawrence police opened their investigation in February 2015, after receiving a tip from someone who had seen on Micco’s Facebook profile “several pictures of obviously underage girls” with inappropriate comments. That person told police she’d asked Micco about them and that his responses described sexual attraction to children.

Police got search warrants for Micco’s Facebook and other internet records.

His Facebook records included images labeled with “jailbait” — including one picturing a “juvenile female” sitting on a pink bicycle with the caption, “JAILBAIT Because the best things in life are illegal.”

Facebook records also included dozens of photos of nude or partially dressed girls, and sexually graphic messages in which Micco described what photos he wanted to see and his reactions when he received them.

When interviewed by police in 2015, Micco admitted to having sexually explicit conversations with girls under 18, and said he looked for girls online who were 13 to 17. He also admitted to requesting and receiving nude photos of girls he knew were under 18.

Police interviewed the girls in 2016, and completed and signed the affidavit in 2017.

Micco’s first count of sexual exploitation of a child is filed as an off-grid felony, the most severe level, according to the complaint filed in district court. The other two are lower-severity felonies.

Micco’s appointed attorney, Matt Franzenburg, declined to comment specifically on the pending case for this story, but noted the state’s burden to prove that the crimes occurred.

“These are merely allegations at this time,” Franzenburg said. “My client is innocent of the charges unless and until the State proves him guilty.”

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office previously denied the Journal-World’s request for Micco’s mugshot.

The next hearing in Micco’s case is scheduled for Wednesday. According to court and jail records, he remains jailed on $100,000 bond.