Man Faces Four Counts of Sexual Abuse of Children in Missoula
On April 11, 2022, 27-year-old Tucker Neville was arrested by Missoula County Sheriff’s Office detectives. Court documents indicate Neville admitted to speaking with what he thought was two 13-year-olds via social media for several months prior to his arrest. Neville admitted he had arrived in Missoula with the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse with the two purported minor females.
On April 13, 2022, Neville made his initial appearance in Missoula Justice Court. Deputy County Attorney Carrie Garber provided the following statement.
“They are significant offenses that can be crossover from where he was, which is taking the bait of federal and state officials who had set up accounts online as 13-year-old girls, to actually contacting actual 13-year-olds and then doing exactly what he did here; solicit them into contact for the purpose of sex and then being found with condoms in his possession with the full intent that he was going to proceed with sex with these 13-year-old girls,” Garber said.
Garber said $100,000 bail is absolutely necessary to prevent Neville from attempting this in any other situation.
“He is a danger to the community based on what he did,” Garber said. “He was clearly intending to engage in sexual intercourse with two 13-year-old girls after months of long conversations with them, during which he acknowledged that he was doing something that was illegal. He planned to commit it in such a way to avoid being caught. Were it not for the fact he was actually communicating with law enforcement officials instead of two children, this would have happened.”
Justice of the Peace Alex Beal presided over the case and he provided the following statement.
“Law enforcement is not trying to hide that they are doing this,” Beal said. “They are out there letting people know that they are out there. Their goal in doing that is to prevent people from engaging in this sort of activity. If there is a big notification to everyone that this is out there and you should not do it, and you then do go and do it, it suggests to me that you just can’t stop. That suggests a significant risk to the community. So yes, I think the state’s request of $100,000 is reasonable. I do set bond in the amount of $100,000.”
Neville is currently being charged with four counts of sexual abuse of children. His next scheduled court appearance will be in District Court on April 25, 2022.
The information in this case was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.