A man arrested after showing up for a meeting supposedly arranged to set a time and place to have sex with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl pled guilty to charges against him during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court March 10.
Twenty-nine-year-old Thomas Zulker, who is represented by Emily Reed and Gray Dellinger, was put on probation for six years.
On March 13, 2023, Zulker is alleged to have started texting a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl from Harrison.
Zulker, however, was sending messages to a person who acts as a decoy and confronts potential child molesters face-to-face.
The “decoy” told investigators that he had placed a fake profile of a 13-year-old girl on Instagram.
Zulker arranged a meeting with the decoy in Mountain Home and sent at least one sexually graphic picture of himself to the “girl.”
When the decoy arrived at the predetermined location, Zulker was reported to already be at the site just “walking around.”
At one point, Zulker is reported to have seen a Mountain Home Police Department patrol vehicle come through the area on routine patrol where Zulker thought he was to meet the minor female and arrange to have sex.
He left the area and the decoy was not able to confront him at that time. The decoy followed Zulker home, confronted him there and Zulker was reported to have agreed to talk.
Zulker was said to have told the decoy about “issues” he had been having and the things he had felt driven to do because of those issues.
The decoy contacted the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office March 28, 2023, and relayed the information that had been gathered on Zulker.
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