By Shereen Siewert

A 24-year-old Stratford man is accused of sending explicit photos and videos to girls as young as 14 and repeatedly assaulting a teenage girl over an 11-month span.

Tyler D. Custer faces 13 felony and five misdemeanor charges in a case filed May 28 in Marathon County Circuit Court. He is free after posting a $10,000 cash bond.

Court records show that Custer was already facing charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and exposing a child to harmful material in a case filed Jan. 27 in Marathon County. The new charges were filed after a months-long investigation, during which a now-17-year-old girl told police she had weekly sexual contact with Custer beginning in January 2019, when the girl was 16 years old.

Police say Custer met the girl on Snapchat and sent her multiple photos of his genitals and eventually persuaded the girl to meet. Custer allegedly captured a 54-second video of one of the assaults and sent the video to the girl over social media.

A second victim told police she was 14 years old when Custer began sending her inappropriate Snapchat messages. At one point Custer allegedly threatened to tell the girl’s mother about inappropriate messages the girl had previously received if she didn’t send him nude photos of herself. The girl said Custer sent multiple photos of his genitals and at least two videos that showed him fondling himself in his truck.

Custer allegedly told the girl he wanted to “show her some things” so that when she eventually had sex with her boyfriend she would “be prepared,” court documents state.

A third alleged victim, a 16-year-old girl, also told police Custer sent her pictures and videos of her genitals and tried to persuade her to send photos back to him, according to the criminal complaint.

Custer faces two counts of child sexual exploitation, five counts of child enticement, two counts of causing a child age 13-19 to view a sexual activity, two counts of exposing a child to harmful material, two counts of soliciting an intimate representation from a minor and five counts of sexual intercourse with a child age 16 or older.

An initial appearance is set for Thursday.