LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – A Lincoln Park man is facing charges after he exchanged several graphic, sexually explicit Snapchat messages, photos, and videos with a 15-year-old girl, according to officials.
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15-year-old’s mother learns of conversations on Snapchat
On Oct. 10, 2021, deputies from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Northern Florida were called to a home in Destin, they said. A woman told authorities that her 15-year-old daughter revealed she had sold pictures of herself online, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in April.
When deputies spoke to the girl, she told them that she had been talking to a 35-year-old man, later identified as Francis Guy Diederichs, 38, of Lincoln Park, court records show. The girl said he had added her on Snapchat and she spoke with him for 20-30 days.
Officials said the girl reported sending photos of herself in a bikini to the Snapchat user, and he sent her a face mask via DoorDash.
Snapchat messages
Authorities got consent to search the 15-year-old girl’s cellphone and found various Snapchat messages she had exchanged with Diederichs, they said.
The conversations were “sexual in nature,” with Diederichs “describing in detail explicit sexual acts he would like to do” to the girl, according to court records.
Due to the sexual nature of the conversations, deputies got search warrants for the Snapchat usernames of Diederichs and the girl.
The messages began around Aug. 30, 2021, and ended around Nov. 18, 2021, according to the criminal complaint.
Some of the messages were included in the complaint. You can read them below.
WARNING: Some of the messages are graphic and sexually explicit.
Here are some messages Diederichs sent the girl on Oct. 8, the criminal complaint says:
- “I do have some misgivings about your age, though. How old are you?”
- “Hmmmm. You’re definitely a bit young.”
- “A girl, looking as good as you do, who is into older guys. Not that I’ve been looking.”
- “Well, that sounded predatory”
- “Well, (girl’s name). You have gorgeous eyes.” (He then expressed wanting to perform a sex act with the girl.)
- “I’m just trying to reconcile the idea of you being so young with role playing with you”
Later on that same day, the girl sent Diederichs a message telling him to “come to Florida” and asked how far away he was, according to court records. Diederichs replied that he is in Michigan.
Diederichs is accused of saying, “Also, actually f------ a 15 year old. I dunno.”
Diederichs also said, according to the complaint, “Haha. This is how guys end up on To Catch a Predator. And “Kbut, we just started chatting. Driving down to Florida to f--- you is a bit fast, regardless of your age.”
On Oct. 10, Diederichs is accused of sending the girl a message that said, “Sooo, I found some, *ahem* explicit pics that I still had from my most recent ex. Did you want to take a peek?”
The girl said yes, and he sent her three messages that contained pictures of women performing sexual acts with him, the criminal complaint says.
After receiving these pictures, the girl asked Diederichs, “how old is she,” and he said, “25 now. She was 24 then,” according to authorities.
Later in the conversation, Diederichs sent the girl an 18-second video of himself performing sex acts with two women, according to officials.
Face mask sent to girl’s house
On Oct. 10, the girl gave Diederichs her address and full name, saying, “oh no thank you I’ll just take the face mask you’re so sweet I’m in your debt can I have the Cetaphil purifying clay mask,” the criminal complaint states.
Diederichs replied, “I sent you a gift on DoorDash! Track your gift here,” and said, “No debt, at all. I like to give gifts,” officials said.
When a DoorDash delivery driver arrived to drop off the face mask, the girl told her mother that she had received it from a man after sending him nude photographs, according to court records. She identified the man by his Snapchat username, authorities said.
During the interview, the girl described the Snapchat user as an older man with a big, orange beard and a lip ring piercing, according to officials.
More Snapchat messages
On Oct. 12, Diederichs sent the girl a 17-second video that was sexual in nature, authorities said. The girl didn’t appear to directly respond to the video, as her next message, “good morning,” was sent the following morning, court records show.
Diederichs sent the girl a message on Oct. 16, saying, “As a side note, if you ever wanna text me text me, my number is ----------,” according to the criminal complaint.
While officials had the girl’s cellphone from Oct. 10-27, the Snapchat conversation between her and Diederichs appeared to continue, which means she used a different device to communicate with him, deputies said.
On Nov. 2, Diederichs is accused of sending her a message, saying, “You deserve to be spoiled. Also, your bra should be there tomorrow if it didn’t come today.”
A series of much more graphic messages were sent from Diederichs to the girl from Nov. 17-18, according to the criminal complaint. In those messages, he aggressively asked for nude photos and described various sexual acts he wanted to perform on her, authorities said.
Diederichs interviewed
The Michigan Sex Offender Registry says Diederichs was convicted in September 2017 for possession of child sexually abusive material. His current address is listed as the same one the Snapchat user in this case provided to another person, according to officials.
Authorities went to his home in Lincoln Park and then encountered Diederichs at his work at 9:08 a.m. April 14, they said. He was outside with his cellphone in his hand and consented to an interview, court records show.
Diederichs was told that the investigation centered around child pornography and people talking to children on the internet, officials said.
“You’re here to talk to me about (the 15-year-old girl’s name),” Diederichs responded, according to authorities.
Diederichs said he randomly added the girl on Snapchat and began talking to her in October. He said she asked if he wanted to “role play” and that she was “pretty aggressive” about it, the criminal complaint says.
Officials said he told them that when he found out she was 15, he “had some misgivings, but I blew past that, obviously.”
When authorities asked Diederichs how the girl’s age had come up, he said he asked her and he was “initially standoffish about the age. Not that that helps,” court records show.
Officials asked Diederichs what he sent the girl, and he replied, “I sent a lot of masturbation of myself,” they said. He told them he had sent videos and said he believed the girl had once sent him a topless image of herself, according to authorities.
Diederichs claimed not to recall what he had asked the girl to send him, officials said.
He admitted to sending the girl sexually explicit images of himself with two other adult women, the criminal complaint says.
Diederichs said he and the girl had a falling out in December, so they no longer spoke, authorities said.
Contact with other minors
Diederichs admitted to speaking with another 14-year-old girl on Snapchat about her “boy troubles,” court records show. He told officials that she was a random add on Snapchat, they said.
He also admitted to engaging in “role play” on social media with a girl he estimated to be 14-15 years old, according to authorities.
Diederichs agreed to a polygraph test and told officials that he had a previous sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, court records show. He said they had sex five or six times and that he had asked her for nude images, but she didn’t send him any, officials said.
Diederichs initially claimed the girl he raped was 16, but said, “She might have been 15,” authorities said. He told them he found out she was 15 after the rape, according to authorities.
Charges
The criminal complaint concludes that there is probable cause to charge Diederichs with attempted sexual exploitation of children, transfer of obscene material to minors, and penalties for registered sex offenders.