Highland Man Admits to Sex with Teen: State's Attorney

A Highland man pleaded guilty to a sex offense involving a teen and child pornography possession Tuesday, according to the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Alexandre Mari, 26, came onto the radar of police months ago when he was allegedly exchanging pornographic images showing children on a file sharing site called Ares, the state’s attorney reported.

State troopers served a warrant at his home in the 13000 block of Charolais Court after tracing his IP address, according to the report.

When they searched the residence on June 10, police said Mari admitted that he had shared and downloaded images of prepubescent teens involved in sex acts, the report said.

In addition, he said some of the pornography he possessed included his former girlfriend, whom he dated when he was 23 and she was 14, according to the report.

Mari said he had been in a relationship with the girl and had sex with her when he was living in College Park, the report said, and she corroborated when troopers contacted her.

There were 885 photos and videos of the girl on his cell phone, according to the report.

Mari was charged with eight counts of child pornography possession, seven counts of possessing child pornography with the intent to distribute it and a third-degree sex offense, court records show. He was indicted in July and released on $100,000 bond.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 18.