SIKESTON MAN ACCUSED OF SEX ACTS WITH BOYS

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A 30-year-old man is charged with seven felony crimes for alleged sexual activity with three boys, the Scott County prosecutor said.

Joel C. Williams of Sikeston was arrested this week after the father of two of the boys spoke to police, a detective with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety said in an affidavit.

The boys told detective Flint Dees that they spent the night at Williams' house twice in February where they were photographed in the nude and encouraged to play sexually explicit games.

On previous occasions Williams had taken them to movies and theme parks, because he was known by the boys' families.

The boys and Williams reportedly were using Williams' computer to talk on an Internet chat room on Feb. 13. Telling the boys that no one would talk with him, Williams encouraged the boys to pull down their underwear while he photographed them. Williams stripped and stood with the boys as the camera recorded more photographs on the computer.

Afterward, the boys said they went into Williams' living room to play "truth or dare." They said Williams gave them beer and had written sexually suggestive actions on pieces of paper in a bowl. All three performed various sexual acts on each other during the course of the game as they performed the actions written on the papers, the affidavit states.

Williams made the boys promise not to talk about their activities with him, "or he would not take them places anymore or do fun things with them," Dees said.

A similar incident involving the same two boys and a third boy occurred Feb. 27. The boys allege Williams photographed them in the nude with his Web cam at his residence, and then watched as the three played his sexually explicit version of "truth or dare." Williams did not participate in the game, the boys told police.

In connection with the incidents, Williams is charged with four counts of statutory sodomy with children younger than 12 and two counts of using children for a sexual performance. He is being held on a $250,000 bond in the Scott County Jail.