A 24-year-old man pressured a 14-year-old girl into sending him a naked picture via Snapchat, a court heard.
The victim’s mother spotted the conversation on her daughter’s phone and took the device off her, but continued the conversation before contacting Nottinghamshire Police.
Jacob Croucher, from Hucknall, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
The charges relate to an incident on 7 August 2018 where the mother of the victim saw that her 14-year-old daughter was on the phone.
The mother then saw a naked Croucher on the screen, took the phone off the victim and spotted that the image had been sent on Snapchat by the offender.
The mother then took the device and purported to be her daughter.
Croucher requested explicit images and videos of her performing sexual acts and pictures of her body to be sent to him.
The offender confirmed that he was aware that she was 14-years-old.
The victim’s mother also saw that Croucher had previously sent an image of his bank balance showing he had more than £11,000 in his account and messaged, ‘Let me spoil you’.
The victim, from Northumbria, received the friend request from Croucher in 2017, but accepted it a year later.
The mother managed to check the location of Croucher on his profile and contacted Nottinghamshire Police.
Croucher was given an eight months sentence, suspended for two years. He has also been placed on the sex offenders registers for 10 years.
Detective Constable Kieran Gosal from the force’s Public Protection department led the investigation. She said: “The victim engaged with the Croucher in general conversation and she disclosed that she was 14-years-old. He confirmed to her that this didn’t bother him even though he was 22-years-old at the time.
“The victim said that he started to become weird and started to ask for pictures of her and she felt pressured into doing this as he would not stop.
“Thankfully the mother saw the incident and took the device off the daughter.
“This was a very serious offence. It was quite unacceptable to subject the young girl to the photographs you sent her via Snapchat.
“We would like to praise the victim and her family for her bravery throughout the investigation.
“This investigation highlights the dangers of these sites which are used by predatory offenders to seek out children to offend against.
“We would encourage anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to come forward and report it to us, safe in the knowledge we take all reports seriously and ensure victims are treated sensitively and professionally at all times.”
