(IntegrityTimes.com) – An education advocate, who backed Evan McMullin’s ill-fated spoiler campaign in the 2016 presidential election, has been jailed after he was accused of attempting to lure a teenage boy into sex. Joel Searby, 43, allegedly sent the 15-year-old boy a Snapchat friend request before claiming to have been groomed by a man in his 40s when in high school. He then purportedly asked the teenager if he would do something similar.
McMullin, a Never Trump conservative and former House Republican staffer, failed to hinder Trump’s victory in the election when he ran as an independent candidate. Searby was the chief strategist for McMullin’s campaign, and called for more diversity of ideas and beliefs in American politics.
Charging documents claimed that, when the boy said he would consider the offer, Searby continued the conversation and pleaded with the boy to not tell anyone about any “relationship” they might have. According to the claims, Searby said the man he had a relationship with while in high school taught him things, and the activist said he did not regret the experience.
Searby, of Archer, advocated for charter schools in Newberry, Florida. He was denied bail after prosecutors argued that he posed a serious risk to public safety. The man allegedly sent the teenage boy a picture of himself topless with a bulge in his underwear. Searby also reportedly invited the boy to his house and sent him photos of himself with his hand down his pants.
Searby will remain in Alachua County Jail while awaiting this trial, after the Alachua County Judge approved pretrial detention on the morning of January 25. Searby pleaded the Fifth Amendment with investigators. He is believed to have several children with his wife, and asked investigators if she had been informed of the charges against him.
Having aligned himself with anti-Trump Republicans such as McMullin and Rick Wilson, Searby had even considered running against Trump in the 2016 election himself. He explained after Trump’s victory that he had felt compelled to do something, and that he decided to stay with McMullin and support his campaign until the end.
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