Police: Arlington man paid Keller teens hundreds for sex

An Arlington man is accused of sexually assaulting four teenage girls who attend Keller schools and who he met through an acquaintance on a high-profile “sugar daddy” website.

Timothy James Burns, 44, paid the teens hundreds of dollars for sex, provided them with alcohol and marijuana (called “weed” throughout the affidavit) and gave them rides to and from his “really big” home on Lake Arlington, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram Thursday.

One girl told police she had sex with Burns because she needed money to fix her broken cellphone.

Burns was arrested Wednesday. He remained in the Keller Regional Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $400,000 — $100,000 for each second-degree felony complaint of sexual assault of a child.

Keller school district officials said Burns has never been an employee of the district.

“Student safety is a top priority in Keller ISD, and we urge parents to talk to their students and notify authorities with any additional information regarding this matter,” the district said in a statement.

Police said the sexual assaults took place between September and January in Burns’ Arlington home.

Computers and other items were taken from Burns’ home Wednesday after police obtained a search warrant. Capt. Tommy Simmons, a Keller police spokesman, said Arlington police have assisted with the investigation.

“Just to hang out”

The four girls are ages 14 to 16 and are high school students in the Keller school district. One of the victims reached out to police on Jan. 21, which started a two-week investigation.

The girl told police she thought she was going to Burns’ home in November “just to hang out.”

Instead, Burns convinced her and three other girls to have sex multiple times.

Burns, according to police, first came in contact with one of the girls in September. He connected with the girl through an adult teen he met on seekingarrangement.com, where it says, “beautiful, successful people fuel mutually beneficial relationships.”

Keller police are still investigating the involvement of the teen who introduced Burns to the first girl.

Burns began texting the girl, and picked her up one Wednesday night at Milestone Church in Keller, according to the affidavit. Burns, who told the girl he was 30, drove her to his home on Perkins Road, in southwest Arlington.

When they arrived, Burns provided the girl with alcohol and weed and “started getting closer to her and touching her, kissing her and trying to take her clothes off,” the affidavit states.

“She said he kept telling her he would give her more money, when she would tell him no,” the affidavit states.

The girl “finally gave in,” and they went to his room and had sex, the girl told police.

Later, Burns bought the girl food, gave her $350 and drove her home, according to the affidavit.

Over the next few weeks, the girl told police, Burns “was always texting her, but she ignored it a lot of times.”

The girl said she decided to go back to Burns’ home in October, when she broke the screen of her cellphone and needed money to fix it, the affidavit stated.

Burns picked her up at the end of her street in a Mercedes and drove her to his house, where they smoked weed on his back porch and had sex in his bedroom, according to the affidavit.

Burns then paid the girl $200, less than before, “because he told her she used his Uber and she should not get as much.”

More girls involved

The next time the girl went to Burns’ house was the week after Christmas, she told police.

Before she went, she asked Burns if she could bring two friends. Burns agreed, and the girls drove to his house, according to the affidavit.

The girls were drinking and smoking with Burns when he took one of the girls into his room. Burns denied to the other two girls that he did anything, according to the affidavit.

Another girl then went with Burns into his room for an hour. After they came out, Burns “started flirting” with another girl and “convinced her with more money to have sex with him,” the affidavit said.

Burns and the girl stayed in his room for about an hour and a half, and then he paid two girls $200 each, according to the affidavit.

At a later date, one of the girls asked Burns if he wanted to meet another one of her friends. Burns agreed, and sent an Uber to pick up the girls at a Taco Bell on Keller Parkway.

When they arrived at Burns’ home, Burns began having sex with one of the girls, before asking the other girl to “join in” for $500.

“She said he just brought both of them in the room because he is controlling,” the affidavit stated.

When the girls wanted to stay at a hotel, Burns told them he wouldn't pay for a room. Instead, he convinced them to stay the night at his house, the affidavit said.

Burns tried to have sex with one of the girls again, “but she said no.”

The next morning, Burns made the girls breakfast and paid them $350, according to the affidavit. The girls used Burns’ Uber account to pay for a ride home.

‘Down-and-dirty marketplace’

Numerous stories have been written about Seeking Arrangement and how it promotes hooking up “sugar babies” with “sugar daddies.”

In 2009, a Ne w York Times Magazine article described the website as “a down-and-dirty marketplace where older moneyed men and cute young women engage in brutally frank transactions. They’re not searching for longtime soul mates; they want no-strings-attached ‘arrangements’ that trade in society’s most valued currencies: wealth, youth and beauty.”

In 2014, The Atlantic did a piece on how college coeds are financing their education through “sugar daddies” met on Seeking Arrangement. The story noted that in “2013, Seeking Arrangement announced that approximately 44 percent of its 2.3 million “babies” are in college.”

Brandon Wade, Seeking Arrangement’s founder and CEO, writes on the website that “Unlike other dating websites, it’s my commitment to operate our business ethically. This means caring about your privacy, encrypting identifiable data, and never employing fake profiles or software bots. When we say there are more women than men, we guarantee it.”

Police are still investigating Burns and urged any more potential victims to come forward.

“It is unclear at this point whether additional victims may surface as part of this investigation and the search of Burns’ home,” Simmons wrote in a statement. “Police are asking parents in and near Keller to speak with their children, particularly high school-aged daughters, and contact investigators if they believe Burns had any inappropriate contact with them.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Police: Arlington man paid Keller teens hundreds for sex."