Court Records: Porter County Man Arrested After Soliciting 17-Year-Old Boy With Explicit Text Messages

A Porter County man has been arrested after he sent sexually explicit messages to a 17-year-old boy who lived in the Porters’ home, where he sometimes stayed, according to court documents.

Dereck Patrick Moore, 38, who occasionally stayed at a home in Porter and at a motel in Portage where he was later arrested, is charged with attempted child exploitation, a Level 5 felony.

Police arrested Moore on Monday and he was scheduled to have an initial hearing Tuesday before Porter Superior Court Judge Mary DeBoer. He remained in custody Tuesday afternoon, according to online jail records.

The teen contacted Porter police on September 14 and said Moore had been living at his home occasionally and had become friends with the boy’s mother, who invited Moore to live with them when needed.

“(The victim) admitted that on several occasions, Dereck sent sexually explicit text messages to (the teen’s) phone and asked (the victim) to send nude photos of herself to Dereck,” court documents said.

“(The victim) stated that he never complied with the request for photos. However, (the teen) has several male friends (youths) who have received similar messages from Dereck.”

In addition to the explicit text messages, court documents show Moore gave the teen money to buy clothes, shoes, food and entertainment.

“(The victim) stated that he never had sexual contact with Dereck, but that he did accept multiple offers to receive money,” the documents state.

After police arrested Moore at the Days Inn, 6161 Melton Road, he told detectives he knew the boy and one of his friends were both in high school and acknowledged that he had lived upstairs in the Porters’ home for “over a year” and had used the residence as a mailing address.

According to court documents, he told police he often gave the teen money because the boy was not as wealthy as the rest of his friends.

A brief search of Moore’s cell phone, conducted with his consent, revealed “multiple photographs and videos” of naked men “in a sexual manner,” though no faces were visible. Police plan to conduct a more thorough search of Moore’s phone as part of the investigation.