By Marissa Dechant Staff writer
An Oil City woman who was previously charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly having sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl last month is now facing felony counts in the case.
Erica Grimes, 27, has been charged with felony counts of sexual exploitation of children and criminal use of a communication facility, in addition to the original misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.
A criminal complaint filed through district judge Andrew Fish’s office said that Grimes went to the Oil City Police Department on May 22 to report that James Raben, 42, of Oil City, was having sex with a 17-year-old girl.
During the course of the investigation, police found that Grimes was also involved in the sexual acts with Raben and the girl, the complaint said.
On May 31, police made contact with the girl regarding the incident, and she provided text messages she had received from Grimes on May 14, the complaint said.
Police conducted another interview with the girl and her mother on Thursday, and the girl provided photos of the text messages from May 14, the complaint said.
The text messages showed that Grimes tried to solicit and/or entice the girl to engage in a group sexual act, the complaint said.
The girl told police that she knows Grimes and that Grimes knows the girl is under 18, the complaint said.
Raben was charged with a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors in the case.
Their preliminary hearings are tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in Central Court.
