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Portsmouth man arrested, accused of soliciting children for sex

Posted at 4:58 PM, Jul 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-12 17:31:50-04

Phillip Butler

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Portsmouth man while closing an investigation Friday morning.

According to investigators, as they were closing out an investigation and search warrant on a home in Carrollton, an undercover agent with the office received a message from a target the department suspected of child sexual exploitation.

As a result of the message, Portsmouth man Phillip Lee Butler was arrested on several charges relating to child exploitation.

Police say Butler was a subject of an investigation into solicitation of child pornography that had been developing over the past few weeks.

Butler was charged with use of a computer to expose genitals to a minor, use of a computer to solicit a minor to expose genitals and use of a computer to propose a sex act with a minor.

He is currently being held at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail without bond.