GREENFIELD — Two men face felony charges after a girl told police they each had an inappropriate relationship with her, according to court documents.
Bryan Alban, 34, 3696 State Road 9, Greenfield, and William Rutherford, 38, 6759 S. County Road 125W, Spiceland, each faces charges of possession of child pornography and dissemination of matters harmful to minors, records show.
Alban also faces one count of sexual misconduct with a minor, court documents state.
A teen girl told police she engaged in sexting with both men on separate occasions, including exchanging inappropriate images with them, according to charging documents. Detectives later found those images on the girl’s cellphone, court documents state.
Additionally, the girl told police she met Alban for sex on one occasion last year, according to charging documents.
She said both men were aware she was underage at the time their relationships began, court documents state.
Alban faces a Level 4 felony count of sexual misconduct with a minor along with one Level 6 felony count of dissemination of matters harmful to minors and one Level 6 felony count of possession of child pornography.
His case is filed in Hancock Circuit Court. He was arrested last week and was being held in the Hancock County Jail on $3,000 cash bond at press time.
Rutherford’s case is filed in Hancock County Superior Court 2. He faces one Level 6 felony count of dissemination of matters harmful to minors and one Level 6 felony count of possession of child pornography.
A warrant for his arrest was pending at press time, records show.
In an interview with police, Alban admitted to exchanging inappropriate text messages with the girl and to having sex with her on the occasion she’d reported, court documents state.
Alban told police he met the girl on a social media dating app and thought she was much older. He said he wasn’t aware she was underage until he was confronted by police, court documents state.
Rutherford had not yet been interviewed by investigators at the time charges were filed against him; but detectives found inappropriate notes and images from the man on the girl’s cellphone.
In several messages from Rutherford on the girl’s phone, he requests that she delete any inappropriate notes or images they exchanged, according to charging documents.
“Based on the information contained in the messages … it is clear he knows the (the victim) is in high school,” detectives wrote in their report.
Officers used Rutherford’s cellphone number to identify him. They then matched the images on the girl’s phone to the driver’s license photo of Rutherford on file at the BMV, court documents state.
Alban has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces. He is expected in court again in February.
A judge had ordered that Rutherford be held without bond upon his arrest, records show.