A Cole County man was charged Wednesday with first-degree child molestation.
Prosecutors charged Nathaniel P. Martin, 18, with subjecting a female under 14 to sexual contact.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Martin was being held in the Cole County Jail on $100,000 bond.
The charge is a Class B felony, which carries a possible punishment of five to 15 years in prison. The prosecutors' felony complaint also noted that, if convicted, Martin could be subject to lifetime supervision by the state's Probation and Parole Board when he's not in prison.
In the felony complaint, Martin was charged with causing the girl to touch him, and he also touched her genital area on Jan. 21.
The Cole County Sheriff's Department probable cause statement reported Martin told investigators that on two different occasions - while in an aroused state because he had been "sexting" with girls - he put the victim's hand on his jeans over his genitals.
Martin said this occurred when others in the home either were asleep or at work.