tulsaworld
A Skiatook man was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he sent sexually explicit images of underage boys to another man through a popular mobile dating application.
The man who received the images, which were sent through the mobile application Grindr, reported the incident to Broken Arrow police officers on Monday, police said in an arrest and booking report.
The man reportedly told police that Joshua Duane Gauger, 25, of Skiatook, sent the images to him after first asking whether he was “into taboo,” according to the police report. When the man told Gauger that he didn’t know what that meant, Gauger specified that it meant “bestiality” and “young,” police said.
Gauger reportedly sent sexually explicit images of underage boys despite the man’s having told him that he was not interested. The man took screenshots of the images and his conversations with Gauger and showed them to police, according to the report.
The next day, police searched the man’s cellphone after he agreed to turn it over. Officers confirmed that the images were sent by Gauger, and the man was given his phone back, according to the report.
The man agreed to meet up with Gauger through the mobile application so that police could arrest Gauger, according to the report.
Gauger and the man agreed to meet about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at a restaurant in the 3800 block of South Elm Place in Broken Arrow, police said.
When Gauger arrived, police officers were waiting in the restaurant’s parking lot. When officers saw Gauger get out of his vehicle, they approached him, according to the report.
Gauger was taken into custody and taken to the Broken Arrow City Jail, where he was interviewed. He was told why he was being arrested and allowed officers to search his cellphone, police said.
Gauger reportedly admitted to having about 500 sexually explicit images and a couple of videos of underage boys on his cellphone. The sexually explicit materials were found on the phone.
Gauger reportedly said he did not know any of the children in the images and that he downloaded them from the internet, police said.
He was booked into the Tulsa Jail about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday on complaints of possessing and distributing child pornography as well as on a hold for Washington County, according to jail records. He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bond and has a court appearance set for Thursday.
Washington County District Court records indicate that Gauger was charged on Wednesday with one count of proposing a lewd or indecent act to a child younger than 16.
Paris Burris