U.S. Marshals arrested a convicted sex offender whom was accused of soliciting children online to share explicit pictures of themselves.
The suspect was linked to a porn ring targeting local children which could be part of a national pedophile network.
Officials said 26-year-old Timothy Walker found the 11-year-old child through an app on his smartphone.
"Children on these website talking to whoever don't know the dangers of it," said the alleged victim's father who asked not to be identified.
The father said he warned his son about interacting with others on his new Smartphone.
"Me and my wife spoke to my son, but it went out the window when he on with his friends. I try to tell him not everyone is your friend," said the father.
Still, his son went on the popular free instant messenger app called 'Kik," and detectives said that's where he encountered Walker.
"He was posing as a kid," said the father. Murfreesboro police said Walker wanted to exchange explicit photos.
"The suspect also requested the boy send nude pictures as well as pictures of the little boy's 6-year-old sister," said Major Clyde Adkison.
The parents noticed the photos and called Murfreesboro police who, with the help of Kik and Metro PD tracked Walker to a home in Madison.
There, they found hundreds of child porn images.
"They rebroadcast them. They give them to other predators, sell them to other sexual predators," said Major Adkison.
This wasn't Walker's first arrest. He was already listed on the state's sex offender registry.
In this case, he was accused of soliciting nude photos from the 11-year-old and possibly sharing those and others photos with pedophiles nationwide.
"I think it's terrible. But it happened to my son. Me. It's not a good feeling," said the boy's father.
Sex crimes detectives have tracked all of the contacts through Walker's phone. They believed they would lead them to more victims and possibly reveal the identity of other sexual predators.
Major Atkison said there are a growing number of new social Apps out there for Smartphones. He said apps like Kik are not the problem.
Rather it's some of the people who use them. So parents, more than ever these days, need to monitor their childrens' communications.
WEB EXTRA: The victim's father talks about the crime.
