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Woman Indicted for Soliciting Minor Online, Sexual Exploitation

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Baluka

A Collierville woman has been indicted on allegations that she solicited a 16-year-old boy online and, later, had sex with the boy, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.

Melissa Anne Baluka, 40, was indicted on the allegations Wednesday, Weirich said. One indictment was for soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Baluka met the Chicago-area boy online in February 2013, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and members of the Memphis Child Exploitation Task Force.

After that, investigators said Baluka exchanged sexually explicit photographs with the boy over the internet. Those images included photographs from a sexual encounter the two shared in a motel when Baluka traveled to Chicago in February of 2014.

The boy’s parents found thousands of the text messages on his phone and also found an online account, which chronicled his relationship with Baluka.

The case is being handled by the D.A.’s Sepcial Victims Unit.

Baluka is being held on $75,000 bond.