A Kewanee Man accepted a plea deal on Tuesday that downgraded the original Grooming charge to Cyberstalking for exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 14-year-old female over an Xbox. Dalton Solomon, 22, received 24 months Probation, 180 days in the Henry County Jail with Day-for-day credit, credit for time served, $500 fine plus assessments and he must submit a DNA Sample. As part of the plea deal, 150 days of the jail sentence are stayed pending compliance with the 24 months of probation, this means he must serve 30 days of the jail sentence immediately and he will only serve the remaining 150 days if he convicted of any new crimes during probation. Solomon served one day in jail before posting bond, so he will need to serve around 14 days of the 30 day sentence. A person commits cyberstalking when he or she engages in a course of conduct using electronic communication directed at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that would cause reasonable distress to a person. He does not have to register as a sex offender under a Cyblerstalking conviction. Judge Terry Patton requested assurance that the State’s Attorney’s Office made every attempt to communicate with the victim’s family regarding the amended charge of Cyberstalking and the dismissal of the Grooming charge. The State’s Attorney’s Office made every attempt at communication with the victim’s family and the Plea Hearing was allowed to continue.
Details regarding their interaction were provided at his Preliminary Hearing. At the Preliminary Hearing, Officer Hamilton testified that A.M. told Mr. Solomon she was 14-years-old and he continued sexually explicit conversations with her anyway. Prosecutors indicate that Solomon and the victim talked about sexual contact with each other. Solomon requested oral sex from AM and said he would buy her a pizza in exchange. Solomon detailed the sexual activity he wanted from her. Officer Hamilton had not read all of the messages so he didn’t know if they ever agreed to meet in person.
