A 65-year-old Buffalo man is in jail after allegedly taking pictures of an underage girl and presenting her with a sex toy while she was taking a bath.

Robert Varner, 206 Church St., is charged by the Union County Sheriff’s Office with sexual exploitation of a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor. Varner was arrested Sunday, Oct. 11, by sheriff’s deputies following a complaint filed by the child and her mother.

The girl told deputies she was taking a bath at her grandmother’s house and talking on the phone when Varner, her grandmother’s boyfriend, came into the bathroom. She said the first time he came in, Varner, who she said had been drinking all night and all morning, made a comment about how white her body was and then left the room.

Varner came back, this time with a camera and took some pictures, asking the girl to show him her breast and nipple and then left. He came back a third time with a sex toy, showed it to her and asked if it was too big for her. Before he left, the girl said Varner asked her to tell no one what he’d done.

After he left, the girl said she got out of the tub and called her mother to come pick her up. She later told her mother what Varner had done and that’s when they went to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies went to the residence, took Varner into custody and confiscated the camera he used to photograph the girl as evidence. He was transported to the Union County Jail where he remained as of Monday.

Drug arrest

A Union man ended up in jail on a drug charge last week after deputies acting on a tip found marijuana in his home.

Bennie Gilliam III, 31, 1012 North Pinckney St., is charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

Deputies received information that Gilliam had a large quantity of marijuana at his residence that he was selling. Based on this, deputies obtained a search warrant and searched Gilliam’s house late Wednesday night. The search turned up five plastic bags of marijuana, some lose marijuana, a grinder, scales and $376 in cash. The marijuana seized weighed more than 28 grams.

Gilliam was taken to the Union County Jail where he remained until being released on bond the following day.

Marijuana found

Deputies are also investigating a quantity of marijuana found in a restroom at Union Skate Center.

The center’s owner contacted the sheriff’s office Sunday about finding a small bag of a green leafy substance he believed was marijuana. He told deputies that the kids at the center had been talking the previous week about some boys having drugs.The drug dog was called in to search the premises but the search was cut short when the dog and its handler were called away.

No drugs were found at the time but the owner said kids at the center later told him the drugs were stil in the boy’s restroom in a drainpipe. After the center closed, the owner searched the bathroom and found the marijuana in the pipes where they said it was. He then called 911 to report the discovery.