The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Police arrest man for sexually explicit text messages
Suspect traveled from Grand Blanc to meet Saline teenager
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2008
A Grand Blanc man was arrested in the Saline High School parking lot Friday night after he tried to arrange a meeting with a 15-year-old Saline boy he met on the Internet.
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Police say Michael Bishop Huston, 44, sent the teen sexually explicit text messages before trying to meet him in person.
Huston and the boy met on Myspace.com, according to police reports, and had been in communication for about three months.
Huston told the boy he was 23, according to police.
The electronic exchanges between the two began in a "general friendly way," according to reports, before Huston and the boy shared some personal information and telephone numbers.
Huston's text messages eventually became sexual in nature, police said.
School officials contacted police after the boy became frightened and told a counselor about the text messages.
"The kid and his parents helped a lot with the investigation," Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten said.
Authorities learned Huston sent the boy a text message on Friday saying he was in Saline and wanted to meet.
In response, Saline Police, in conjunction with Pittsfield Township police, located Huston at the high school, where he was arrested.
Charged on Sunday with soliciting a minor for immoral purposes, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Huston was placed on $100,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Police found in Huston's vehicle several cell phones and executed a warrant on his home in Grand Blanc, where they seized a laptop computer.
Huston's home was next to an elementary school, according to police reports.
Huston served six years in prison for aggravated stalking from January 1994 to September 2000, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
Bunten said the incident was a cautionary tale to parents.
"I cannot stress enough that parents need to take an active role in their kids' computer use," Bunten said, "Predators hang around these (Internet social networking sites) just waiting for unexpecting kids."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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