A MOUNT Direction man who seduced a 14-year-old girl via Facebook has pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and having sex with a person under 17 years old.
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Reginald Robert Young, who turned 20 on Thursday, was remanded in custody after entering the plea in the Supreme Court in Launceston yesterday.
The court heard Young sent the girl a ``poke'' on the social networking site in March last year.
``She didn't know who he was but she poked him back,'' crown prosecutor Peter Sheriff said. ``A few days later she received a friend request.''
Mr Sheriff said the pair exchanged messages on Facebook and by SMS for several weeks and Young asked the girl to be his girlfriend.
In May last year they met in the car park of Chickenfeed at George Town.
On a second meeting they had sex in the back of Young's car in a beach car park, then performed other sexual acts in the women's cubicle of a public toilet block.
Mr Sheriff said that the girl ended the relationship the next day but Young continued to send her text messages.
Young also pleaded guilty yesterday to a separate count of aggravated sexual assault for digitally raping a 12-year-old girl in 2010, committing an indecent act directed at a young person, and child pornography charges.
He knew the 12-year-old girl through a family friend and sent her a text message that said he loved her and wanted to be with her.
``The complainant informed the accused that she was 12 years old and he was too old for her,'' Mr Sheriff said.
He said that Young arranged to meet the girl, who was then in grade six, after school in Launceston on April 10, 2010.
He said that Young lifted the girl up and carried her to a public toilet where he sexually assaulted her in one of the cubicles.
``The complainant's friend then went into the adjacent cubicle and heard the complainant saying, `stop it, stop it','' Mr Sheriff said.
Young's lawyer, Tamara Jago, said that he maintained the girl walked with him to the toilet block.
He was arrested after police searched his family home at Mount Direction on June 14 last year.
The search uncovered child exploitation images and videos, including 27 images and videos of the 14-year-old and two other teenage girls from the Launceston area.
Ms Jago said that Young was shy and immature and had limited social exposure in high school.
``He wasn't part of the popular crowd and was very much on the outer in terms of social groups,'' she said.
Ms Jago said the relationship with the 14-year-old was consensual and began shortly after Young's father was diagnosed with cancer.
His father passed away in July.
She said that a psychological report described Young as having the psycho-sexual maturity of a 14 or 15-year-old boy.
Young will be sentenced on Tuesday.
