Federal officials arrested a convicted sex offender on felony sex charges last Thursday.
Mickell Close (pictured), 31, of 2491 County Road 255, Number 4, Quincy, was arrested without incident by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations following a search warrant at his residence.
Close allegedly took pictures of three young girls and distributed them on the Internet.
His charges were:
- Used, persuaded, induced, enticed or coerced three or more minor children to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, and such visual depiction was produced using materials that traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; or such visual depictions were transmitted by means of a facility of interstate commerce, that is by computer and/or the internet.
- Received, distributed and/or possessed child pornography obtained through interstate commerce, including by computer or the internet.
Close was transported to the Franklin County Jail.
Federal officials continue their investigation.
The Logan County Sheriff's Office assisted Homeland Security.
In 2000, Close was convicted of gross sexual imposition with a three-year-old girl. He was labeled a sexual predator.
