An 18-year-old Longmont man, who police say has been arrested previously on suspicion of sex assault on a child, has been arrested on suspicion of using his role as a babysitter or the friend of a babysitter to make sexual advances on boys.
Ryan Wappel was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexual exploitation of children, enticement of a child and Internet sexual exploitation of a child. He was reported to police by parents of boys around age 9 who said Wappel tried to get them to “do stuff” with him.
Parents of the children discovered suggestive text messages and naked or partially naked pictures of Wappel on their children’s phones, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Wappel is suspected of meeting some of the children by babysitting or going to their homes while one of his friends was babysitting.
According to police, Wappel was arrested previously for sexual assault on a child involving 9- and 10-year-old boys, but records were not available Monday.
One person told investigators that she asked Wappel how he was able to babysit with a previous offense.
“Ryan said he wasn’t going to lose his babysitting jobs and didn’t want to explain it to his counselor, so he and his parents decided to ‘keep it under the carpet,’ ” according to the affidavit.
When reached at his home Monday, Wappel declined to comment. He was released from the Boulder County Jail the same day he was arrested, and he was charged Friday.
