KNOXVILLE -- Former Tennessee football player Mack Crowder was arrested in Florida on Tuesday night after detectives in the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office caught him as part of a sting operation targeting adult males seeking out underage females online for sexual activity.
The offensive lineman, who just completed his fifth and final season with the Volunteers, is facing multiple felony charges of prohibited use of a computer and the transmission of harmful materials to minors, according to the Pinellas County Court's online records.
The county includes the cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg just west of Tampa.
The 23-year-old, whose listed address is in Knoxville, was out on bond of $50,000.
According to a release from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Crowder was arrested after he "sought out and engaged in an online sexual conversation with whom he thought was a 14-year-old female," but actually was a detective with the PCSO.
Investigators said Crowder during those conversations, which began on Jan. 21, he "sent four photographs of his sexual organ to the 'minor,'" according to the release.
Detectives also said, according to the release, Crowder "enticed or solicited the minor to engage in sexual acts with him" on several occasions and made arrangements to meet the minor at an undisclosed location in Pinellas County on Tuesday, and that's where he was arrested.
Once taken into custody, Crowder admitted to sending the photos and "having knowledge that he was communicating with whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl," according to the release.
The investigation is ongoing, according the sheriff's office.
The statute Crowder is charged with violating is a person using a computer to "seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, or attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, a child or another person believed by the person to be a child, to commit any illegal act ... or to otherwise engage in any unlawful sexual conduct with a child or with another person believed by the person to be a child," according to the Florida Legislation's web site.
The law is also known as the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.
The five charges Crowder faces are all third-degree felonies.
After redshirting in 2011, Crowder played in 32 games the past four years for the Vols. He started 11 games at center in 2014 and three games at center and left guard in 2015. He is a native of Bristol, Tenn.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.