Corbin man accused of getting girl to take nude photos

A Corbin man is charged with inducing a teenager into taking nude photos of herself and emailing them to him.

Patrick Todd Hoskins, 34, of KY 26 in Corbin was arrested May 26 and charged with one count of prohibited use of an electronic device to produce images of a minor in sexual performance, three counts of use of a minor under 16 in a sexual performance, and three counts of promoting sexual performance by a minor under 16.

According to a warrant, sworn out by Barbourville Police patrolman Steve Owens, Hoskins allegedlu used a computer connected to the Internet to induce the 12-year-old female to engage in sexual or prohibited performance by inducing her to capture and produce images of herself including at least three photos where she was clad only in her panties while posing in front of the camera.

"I guess you could call it stalking," he said.

Owens said the suspect first made contact with the victim through a social website and began to chat with her online.

"He knew who she was but she didn’t know him," Owens said, adding that the suspect soon began pressuring the victim to produce the explicit images.

Police were alerted to the case when a family member of the victim contacted Owens, at which time he launched the investigation. Although they currently have no evidence of Hoskins being involved in other such activity, his computer was confiscated and has been sent to Kentucky State Police Crime Lab in Frankfort for a forensic analysis.

After being charged, Hoskins posted a $10,000 cash bond with the condition that he have no further contact with the victim.

Owens said that Internet stalking and other crimes of this nature are a growing problem.

"Over the past year or so it is getting to be more of a problem. It’s not a big problem here yet, but it is in other areas."