A Grass Valley man was arrested Tuesday on child pornography charges after authorities uncovered an allegedly long history of the man asking young girls for pictures of their underwear.

Rocklin Police Department detectives arrested Steven Lawrence Elliot, 39, at his Grass Valley home on charges of distribution of obscene material, possession or control of child pornography, sending harmful matter to a minor, stalking, sending annoying messages and identity theft.

The Grass Valley Police Department and SWAT team assisted in the arrest.

The investigation started when a mother of a female minor notified Rocklin Police of inappropriate text messages being sent to the girl regarding her panties.

During the case investigation, which included the service of 18 search warrants of Internet providers, cell phone companies, residences, and a work location, a case was developed that linked Elliot to perverse requests for panties of young girls via e-mail and text messages.

Detectives determined that Elliot, posing as a teenage boy, text messaged or e-mailed many girls, teenage and pre-teenage, and solicited pictures of them in their underwear. He would also solicit girls for pictures of their panties. The range of Elliot’s e-mails and text messages could span across the nation, officials said.

Elliot may have stalked one family in Rocklin for years and obtained personal information regarding the daughters of the same family from Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook, according to a news release from the Rocklin Police Department.

The investigation has led to information that shows former Rocklin High School cheerleaders and others, some now 28 years old, being contacted electronically recently about panty thefts that occurred at their residence while they were still in high school.

Elliot also allegedly created e-mail accounts using the names of innocent victims and used Internet connections in an attempt to hide his trail. The connections were made from locations including Lake of the Pines in Nevada County. Investigators are also looking into the possibility that non-secure wireless connections may have been used.

A wireless connection used in a house can travel 100 feet or more and into the surrounding community. A hacker can search for non-secure wireless connections using a laptop computer while parked down the street. Using this connection the hacker can access the Web using someone else’s IP address. This makes the tracing of e-mail origins and computer usage somewhat more difficult.

Elliot may have used many e-mail names to solicit young females for pictures of their panties or of them in their panties. The most recent of the e-mail names contained the name “MIKE,” but others such as “GABE” were also used. Rocklin Police Detectives are asking that any female who has been electronically solicited for these types of pictures to contact them at (916) 625-5400.

Elliot was transported to the Placer County Jail where he is being held on $150,000 bail.

~ Staff report