A 36-year-old Lincoln man is in jail nearly five months after he met a 13-year-old boy on a dating app, took the boy to his west Lincoln residence and sexually assaulted him, police say in court records.
The boy told police that he connected with Anthony Horton on the dating app in August and exchanged messages with the man before the two agreed to meet Aug. 10, Lincoln Police Investigator Chris Champoux said in the affidavit for Horton's arrest.
Horton picked the boy up in his Dodge pickup — with a handgun sitting on the center console, the teen said — and drove him to Horton's house, near West South Street and Coddington Avenue, the boy told investigators. The boy identified himself as 18 years old on the app, Champoux said.
Once at the one-story ranch-style home, Horton sexually assaulted the boy, Champoux alleged in an affidavit for a search warrant for Horton's house.
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The boy reported the incident to his mother and police two days later, but he couldn't identify Horton, whose name he didn't know.
The boy led police to the West A neighborhood but wasn't able to identify a specific house, Champoux said in an affidavit. So investigators canvassed the area for a pickup matching the description that the teen provided, leading them to Horton's vehicle.
Meanwhile, police subpoenaed the dating app — Sniffles, which is described on its website as "a modern, map-based, meetup app" for gay men — seeking the account data and IP address for a user who was active on the app near Horton's house.
Included in the app's response was a profile photo that appeared to match Horton's driver license photo, Champoux said. And the account's IP address matched the IP address at Horton's home.
Police arrested Horton following an interview with investigators Wednesday and took him to the Lancaster County Jail before prosecutors charged him Friday with first-degree sexual assault of a child.
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