Albert Lea man appears on child solicitation charge

(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man appeared in Freeborn County Court Monday on a child solicitation charge.

Brock Barrientos, 21, faces once charge of felony electronic solicitation of a child after a 14-year-old told law enforcement that he had propositioned her over text.

According to court documents, in April of 2023, the juvenile told law enforcement that Barrientos had been texting her for about a month, and she had attempted to block him numerous times, but that he had contacted her with several new numbers.

Law enforcement noted that text messages from mid-April appeared to show Barrientos asking the child to perform sex acts, according to court documents.

The juvenile also told law enforcement that Barrientos had contacted her similarly four years previously, when she was only 10 years old.

According to court documents, Barrientos denied propositioning the child, but “admitted that it was wrong for a 21-year-old man to be talking to a 14-year-old child.”

Barrientos is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing Feb. 15, 2024, followed by a jury trial March 4.