SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Texas man used social media to exploit a teenager in Sumner County and now faces decades behind bars.
Alex Torres, 37, started messaging the victim in February 2025 when the child was just 12 years old after Torres found her online and began sending unsolicited messages, according to the Sumner County District Attorney General. Portland Police Detective Charles Hope began investigating in July 2025 after the teenager’s mother found inappropriate SnapChat conversations and search warrants led detectives to identify Torres as the person contacting the child.
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Detectives found that the messages escalated quickly and Torres solicited sexual images and videos from the victim and sent images of himself in return. By the summer of 2025, the two were even making plans to meet and run away together. It seemed that had Torres not been discovered, it is likely the two would have followed through with their plans.
Torres was indicted, arrested in Texas by the US Marshals Service and held in Sumner County Jail on a $1 million bond following his July 2025 arrest.
A judge found Torres guilty of charges including continuous sexual abuse of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison with no chance of probation, parole or early release. He will be supervised for life after serving his time.