William James Rex

NORTH WEBSTER — A North Webster man was recently arrested after allegedly having three girls pose for inappropriate pictures and engaging in sex with a child.

William James Rex, 35, 8534 E. Bond St., North Webster, is charged with sexual misconduct with a minor, a level 4 felony; two counts of child exploitation, level 5 felonies; and child pornography, a level 6 felony.

On Aug. 31, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office received a report that Rex had been taking inappropriate pictures of two children at his home in North Webster.

According to court documents, one of the children told the officer that about two months ago, Rex took her to dinner and purchased some vape cartridges for her. Rex then took the child to his residence and told her that if she didn’t want him to take pictures of her that she would need to pay him for dinner and the vape cartridges.

The child said Rex showed her multiple pictures of another young girl in a state of nudity and dressed in lingerie. Rex told the child that he and the girl in the pictures had sexual intercourse. The child told the officer that since the first incident, she had gone out for dinner with Rex two to three times and that Rex provided her with lingerie and took pictures of her wearing it.

The girl in the pictures said she and Rex had sexual intercourse on two occasions and that it had started about 18 months ago.

A second child said that on Aug. 30, Rex took her out to dinner. After dinner, Rex took the child to Cirilla’s and purchased lingerie. Once back at Rex’s residence, he took pictures of the child in the lingerie. The child said approximately a week earlier, Rex showed her pictures of two children in lingerie.

The child said Rex used a cellphone to take the pictures and transferred the images to a computer.

Rex told the officer that everything the children said actually happened and went into detail describing each incident.

He was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Aug. 31, with a $50,250 surety and cash bond.