Working alongside investigators from the Frederick County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office, TBI agents obtained indictments for a Rhea County man accused of attempting to solicit sex from a minor online.

The TBI received information about 29-year-old Victor Ryan Welch of Dayton from authorities in Maryland. There, a Frederick County detective in the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit, posed as a 13-year-old online and Welch allegedly engaged in a prolonged chat to solicit sex.

A Rhea County grand jury this week returned indictments, charging Welch with six counts of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means and two counts of solicitation of a minor. Welch turned himself in last night to authorities in Rhea County.