Royal Oak Native Arrested, Charged With Internet Sex Crimes: Cops

ROYAL OAK, MI — A 34-year-old Royal Oak native who had been working as a trainer for the University of Georgia baseball team has been arrested and charged with several crimes after police said he had inappropriate and obscene online interaction with someone he believed to be a child.

Jason Castleman was immediately fired by the university after he was arrested late last week, officials told Atlanta news organizations on Saturday. Castleman appeared in court Saturday and has been charged with several crimes, including use of a computer service to seduce, lure or entice a child to commit an illegal act, obscene internet contact with a child, electronically furnishing obscene material to a minor and solicitation of sodomy, reports said.

Police in Roswell, Georgia, said that the charges stemmed to from online conversations Castleman believed were taking place with a child. University officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they learned of the charges on Thursday and that Castleman was fired immediately. Citing on ongoing investigation, the university said it could not comment further. The Bulldogs began their baseball season on Friday.

Police told news organizations that they could not divulge how the charges were reached until Monday.

This was Castleman’s first year working at Georgia and joined the athletic department in September as an associate trainer. He previously spent two years at Central Michigan. According to a bio that has already been scrubbed from the University of Georgia athletics website, Castleman graduated from Grand Valley State in 2014 and is married, the newspaper reported. Castleman also worked at Virginia Commonwealth University as a trainer.

Castleman remains in custody at the Fulton County Jail on a $200,000 bond, according to jail records. Each of the criminal charges, two of which are felonies, carries a $50,000 surety bond. According to the reports, if released from custody, Castleman is not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18. Castleman's next court appearance has not yet been set, the reports indicated.