By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com
A 40-year-old Grass Valley man has been placed on five years probation, given a three-year suspended prison sentence and ordered to register as a sex offender after posing as a teenage boy to solicit photos of teenage girls in their underwear.
Steven Lawrence Elliott (left photo) was sentenced Wednesday by Placer Superior Court Judge Robert P. McElhany. Although Elliott was credited for serving 495 days in Placer County Jail, he may not be released immediately because there is a custody hold on him from Nevada County, according to a Placer County District Attorney's Office news release.
Elliott was arrested in July 2009 following a Rocklin Police Department investigation into allegations by the mother of a 15-year-old girl that her daughter had received inappropriate text messages.
Police determined that Elliott had posed as a 16-year-old boy and sent text messages or made Internet contact with a number of teenage girls, asking for photos of their underwear or of the girls wearing the underwear, according to the news release.
Elliott originally pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including stalking, contacting minors with the intent to commit a sexual offense, annoying children and one count of unauthorized use of another person's identity.
On May 5, he agreed to plead no contest to the felony charge of unauthorized use of another's identity and to one misdemeanor count of annoying a child younger than 18.
Prosecutor Todd Kuhnen said the probation conditions imposed on Elliott include restrictions on use of the Internet and cell phones. If Elliott violates probation, he could be ordered to fulfill the remainder of his three-years suspended sentence in state prison.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.









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