Girl’s mother assisted in Grapevine solicitation arrest, WFAA reports

A 36-year-old man accused of trying to meet a 9-year-old Justin girl to have sex with her was in jail Monday night, Star-Telegram media partner WFAA first reported.

The girl’s mother told WFAA that she saw “suspicious texts” on her daughter’s phone, so she pretended to be her daughter. She said he asked for sex within minutes. A police officer continued the text conversation and set up a sting to arrest Butler.

“We're doing forensics on his cellphone and computers to determine if there are other victims that he already had relationships with,” Lt. Barry Bowling, a Grapevine police spokesman, said.

Jonathan Ashley Butler of Grapevine was arrested after he drove to Justin, where the girl lives, expecting to have sex with her, WFAA reported.

Detectives arrested Butler at 4 p.m. Friday on a warrant accusing him of online solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, Sgt. Robert Eberling, a Grapevine police spokesman, wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram late Monday.

Butler is the father of one of the girl’s friends, WFAA reported.

Butler remained in the Grapevine jail Monday with bail set at $50,000.

Eberling said he did not have Butler’s arrest warrant affidavit available Monday night to answer further questions. —Monica S. Nagy

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Girl’s mother assisted in Grapevine solicitation arrest, WFAA reports."