Paul Creps
Courtesy of WCSO
The Ypsilanti Township man police said had a cell phone filled with pictures of unclothed underage girls had a jury trial set when he appeared Wednesday in the Washtenaw County Trial Court.
Unless the case is resolved through a plea bargain, a trial will begin for Paul Joseph Creps on Jan. 7.
David I. Goldstein, Creps' attorney, said the defense and prosecution are still in talks to reach a resolution before then.
In total, Creps faces four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct over alleged physical contact with at least two girls under 16. Police have identified two underage girls as possible victims. The first is an Ypsilanti Township girl described as being under 16 and the second is a 15-year-old Ypsilanti girl.
Police said they located the second girl through Creps’ cell phone, where they also found numerous pictures of underage girls, many of whom were unclothed. The detective in the case began going through the numbers on the phone and contacting various girls, eventually finding the 15-year-old Ypsilanti girl.
Creps also is suspected of using social media sites like Facebook to find underage girls. He would ‘friend’ them and start a text-messaging relationship with them.
"(He) parlayed that into getting her to do sexual acts," police have said of the 15-year-old Ypsilanti girl.
While executing a search warrant at Creps' Ypsilanti Township residence, they recovered three computers that are being forensically evaluated, police said.
Creps remains at the Washtenaw County Jail on 10 percent of a $75,000 bond. John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.