Sheriff: Tennessee deputy charged with sex crimes, solicited images from York County girl
.jpg "The deputy asked a 13-year-old girl for sexual photos and video, South Carolina deputies said.")
A Tennessee law enforcement officer is in the York County jail on child pornography charges after he asked a minor girl for sexually explicit pictures and video, according to deputies and arrest warrants.
Johnathan Nathaniel Allen, 25, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was extradited to South Carolina Thursday night after being arrested earlier in the day. He faces three counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
York County deputies started an investigation in September after Allen allegedly contacted a 13-year-old York County girl he met through the social media site Reddit, according to a sheriff’s office incident report. Allen had the girl send him sexually explicit photos and video, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
The warrants allege Allen knew the victim was a child and still encouraged her to send him pictures and video.
York County deputies went to Tennessee, and police from both states seized electronic devices and photos, according to a York County incident report and the statement from the Hamilton County sheriff.
Allen has been a corrections deputy in Hamilton County, Tennessee since 2021 and started training to be a field deputy last month, Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said in a statement. Garrett said he was “furious” over the accusations and the type off alleged behavior will not be tolerated.
Allen remains in the York County jail without bail, records show.
