A Russellville woman and her husband are behind bars after officials learned they had written sexually explicit letters about a 17-month-old child while they were in jail.

Jennifer Milam, 29, and Seth Alexander, 29, who were living at BDI Trailer Park in Russellville at the time, were both arrested on five counts of Facilitating the solicitation of unlawful sexual conduct with a child under 16, officials said.

According to Franklin Count Sheriff Shannon Oliver, law enforcement officials first became aware of the situation on June 14 when investigators were contacted by the Franklin County Department of Human Resources.

Oliver said DHR had come into possession of several sexually explicit letters Alexander and Milam had allegedly written about a 17-month-old child they both knew.

Oliver said that Alexander and Milam had recently been housed at the Franklin County Jail on drug charges and the letters were supposedly passed back and forth between them while they were there.

“After they got out of jail, they moved in with a family member because they had no place else to go,” Oliver said. “Once they found a place to live and moved out, they ended up leaving the letters behind.”

According to Oliver, the family member who found the letters immediately turned them into DHR who then contacted authorities.

Oliver said once the letters were received from DHR, investigators immediately began looking into the case.

Once there was enough information for warrants, Milam was picked up at a residence in the BDI Trailer Park on Tuesday.

Investigators said Alexander wasn’t at the residence at the time of Milam’s arrest and was allegedly running from authorities.

He was arrested Thursday afternoon after turning himself in to investigators.

“First, I am just thankful that the letters were turned in and we could get these two arrested before they could do any of the things described in those letters because this is probably the most disturbing incident that I believe we have ever seen,” Oliver said.

“There are just hardly even words to describe how unsettling this case is. Make no mistake, behavior like this absolutely will not be tolerated in this county and we plan to pursue the maximum punishments allowed by law.”

Both Milam and Alexander were in custody at the Franklin County Jail without bond on Thursday.

Facilitating the solicitation of unlawful sexual conduct with a child under 16 is a Class C felony punishable by 1-10 years in prison if convicted.