Urbana man charged after attempting to meet 12, 13-year-old girls

An Urbana man has been arrested and charged with criminal child enticement and drug abuse after he attempted to meet with what he believed were two girls younger than 15, according to police.

Michael Fowler Jr., 45 of Urbana, was arrested by German Twp. police officers Saturday after a planned meeting with a 13-year-old and 12-year-old girl turned out to be with police officers instead, according to an affidavit filed with the case.

Fowler was in Clark County Municipal Court for an arraignment on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At the time of his arrest, Fowler was in possession of 38 zip ties, a pill bottle of Viagra, a sex toy, “a marijuana cigarette,” a bottle of CIROC red berry alcohol and a bottle of Crown Royal Vanilla, according to a German Twp. Police Department property receipt.

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Fowler allegedly was Snapchat messaging the 13-year-old when the girl’s mother took her daughters cell phone and discovered their were several messages between him and her daughter, according to an affidavit.

“It was obvious that [Fowler] was trying to meet her daughter in person and did engage in conversation about a sex act,” the affidavit says.

The conversation moved from the messaging app to text messages, where the young girl allegedly told Fowler she was in the seventh grade at a Clark County high school. Fowler then suggested that they meet in person, according to the affidavit.

“He suggested that they meet in person and that he would meet her at the high school and if she left the school he would take her to breakfast one day,” the affidavit said.

The girl’s mother turned over the phone with screenshots of the conversation to police, and also contacted a mother of a 12-year-old girl who was a friend of her daughter’s, “who has also had Snapchat conversations with Michael Fowler Jr.,” the affidavit says.

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Both mothers then gave German Twp. police permission to search the contents on the girls’ phones. After police downloaded the information from the cellphones, Fowler allegedly continued to send Snapchat messages to the 13-year-old wanting to meet her in person, according to the affidavit.

The 13-year-old’s mother agreed to allow officers to send Fowler a text message on Friday agreeing to meet him and saying she would be coming with the 12-year-old girl.

“A text message was sent to Michael Fowler Jr. agreeing that her daughter and her friend would meet him in the parking lot of the Dollar General Store located at 3799 Troy Road.”

Fowler later was allegedly observed that day driving into the parking lot of the Dollar General and then texting the 13-year-old girl requesting to meet. Fowler was arrested at that time, according to the affidavit.

Fowler was transported to the Clark County Jail and given a bond of $1,100. He was not listed as an inmate in the Clark County Jail as of Tuesday afternoon, according to jail records.

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