WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TN – Just outside of Rutherford County in neighboring Williamson County, an undercover investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has resulted in the arrest of an Ashland City man, on charges of soliciting a minor.

In July of last year (2023), during a joint investigation with the FBI, agents identified an individual who had been communicating with someone identifying to be a 14-year-old minor female, but was actually an undercover special agent. The male individual sent sexually explicit messages and photographs to the minor persona, and requested the perceived 14-year-old send sexually explicit photographs of herself back to him. During the course of the investigation, agents identified the male who was contacting the teen persona as Keith Choate.

20-Year-old Keith Taualii Choate (DOB 08/15/2003) was arrested in Williamson County on Tuesday, May 28th. The suspect was apprehended by TBI ICAC Task Force agents, with assistance from the Ashland City Police Department and the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office. He is charged with one count of Solicitation of a Minor and one count of Soliciting Sexual Exploitation of a Minor by Electronic Means. He was transported to the Cheatham County Jail, under a $50,000 bond.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) affiliate of the Tennessee ICAC Task Force. The TBI asks that anyone with information about any case of online child exploitation should contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Tipline at 1-800-TBI-FIND, TipsToTBI@tbi.tn.gov, or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org.

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