A Grass Valley man was arrested Tuesday morning by Rocklin police detectives for allegedly asking teenage girls to send him pictures of them in their underwear via the Internet.

Steven Lawrence Elliott, 39, was arrested at his East Main Street home, with the help of Grass Valley police. The lengthy investigation began when the mother of a 15-year-old girl notified Rocklin police of inappropriate text messages being sent to the girl regarding her underwear.

Elliott has been charged with distributing obscene material, possession or control of child pornography, sending harmful matter with intent to seduce a minor, stalking, sending annoying messages and identity theft.

He is being held at Placer County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail and will be arraigned Thursday, Rocklin police Lt. Lon Milka said.

The investigation included serving 18 search warrants on Internet providers, cellular telephone companies, residences and a work location. The investigation revealed requests for panties of young girls through e-mail and text messages, Milka said.

Detectives determined that Elliott, posing as a 17-year-old boy, text-messaged or e-mailed many girls — teenage and pre-teenage — and solicited pictures of them in their underwear through MySpace, Milka said. Elliot also allegedly asked girls for pictures of their underwear.

“This grew into a huge investigation that could include victims from all across the country,” Milka said. “Some of the victims identified themselves as being from the East Coast.”

Elliott, a Bear River High School graduate, was investigated by Grass Valley police in 2008 for a cyber-crime case, said Grass Valley police Capt. Rex Marks.

Charges were filed, and he pleaded guilty in Nevada County Superior Court in March to four counts of unauthorized access to computers. He received three years probation in the case; additional details were not available by press time.

The Rocklin case developed after a local teen began receiving “weird” text messages, Milka said.

“You could call the messages pornographic,” Milka said. “He was using his cell phone to solicit pictures of her panties and of her in her panties.”

As investigators delved deeper, they determined that Elliott stalked the 15-year-old girl's older sister as well, Milka said.

“It's a very convoluted case,” he said.

The investigation also turned up a series of e-mails to women who were members of the Rocklin High School class of 1999, Milka said. In the e-mails, Elliott allegedly posed as a fellow student who had broken into their houses and stolen their underwear 10 years ago.

“We don't know if that actually happened,” Milka said. “We're investigating a little bit more ... He's had this obsession for quite a long time, that's what we feel.”

Milka said that investigators served search warrants at Elliott's Grass Valley home, at his father's home in Lake of the Pines and at his workplace in Lake of the Pines.

“We seized computers from his work and from his father's residence,” he said.

Elliott allegedly created e-mail accounts using the names of innocent victims and used Internet connections in an attempt to hide his trail. He allegedly used many e-mail names to solicit teenage girls for pictures of their panties or of them in their panties, including “Gabe” and “Mike.”

Rocklin police detectives are asking that any female who has been electronically solicited for these types of pictures to contact them at (916) 625-5407.

To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call 477-4229.