Man Accused Of Having Sex With Teenager, Growing 120 Marijuana Plants

Deputies said on Tuesday that a 41-year-old man accused of having sex with a teenage girl he met on the Internet also was running a marijuana growing operation.

A father alerted law enforcement officials and said that he thought his teenage daughter was “up to no good,” 10TV’s Danielle Elias reported.

Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott said that the father became suspicious when his daughter tried to hide her text messages from Randall Roberts, which investigators said were sexual in nature.

Deputies said that Roberts met the teenager on the Web site, VampireFreaks.com. He then started texting her and then allegedly picking her up from her house to have sex.

 “On one of the days they were texting back and forth, she was supposed to meet with him, at which time the officers actually met with him and took him into custody,” Scott said.

Deputies searched Roberts’ home and found 120 marijuana plants, drug paraphernalia and several thousand dollars in cash, Elias reported.

A neighbor said that he saw law enforcement officials carrying bags out of the house.

“They brought out bags and bags full of something out of the house,” the neighbor said. “They were down there at least five hours, and then at last, he carried a computer out on his shoulder.”

Scott said that the search was the end of what started months earlier on the Internet.

“There are predators online, and these predators are searching for your kids,” Scott said.

Scott said that Roberts previously was arrested for drug trafficking as well as in connection with a pending rape case out of Montgomery County also involving a 15-year-old girl.

Roberts now faces a federal charge of enticing a minor.

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