A Russellville couple accused of writing sexually explicit letters about a 17-month-old child while they were in jail have been indicted by the September grand jury, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.
Jennifer Thomas Milam, 30, who was living in BDI Trailer Park in Russellville at the time of arrest, was indicted on five counts of facilitating the solicitation of unlawful sexual conduct with a child under 16.
Her husband, Jonathan Daniel Seth Alexander, 29, same address, was indicted on seven counts of facilitating the solicitation of unlawful sexual conduct with a child under 16.
Rushing said the indictments stem from a situation law enforcement officials first became aware of on June 14 when investigators were contacted by the Franklin County Department of Human Resources.
According to Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver, 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 been housed at the Franklin County Jail in June 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 June 19.
Investigators said Alexander wasn’t at the residence at the time of Milam’s arrest and was allegedly running from authorities but was arrested on June 21 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 after both Milam and Alexander were in custody.
“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.”