Man booked on sexual assault charges

TYLER – On Wednesday, a Longview man was taken into custody in Smith County on suspicion of sexually abusing a young girl and sending her explicit messages. Longview resident Nakerey Gardner, 27, is accused of both online solicitation of a minor and aggravated sexual assault of a child. On Wednesday, he was booked into the Smith County Jail. A mother claimed in an arrest affidavit that her daughter had sex with a man she first thought was 17 years old.

The mother discovered that her daughter had been sexually assaulted at her Smith County home in April of 2025. Additionally, investigators discovered that Gardner had sent the young girl sexually explicit messages. Investigators were informed by the victim that she used Snapchat to communicate with Gardner and that he used the app’s location feature to locate her house. According to the affidavit, the sexual assault took place in his car after he arrived at the property. Investigators were able to identify Gardner as the account owner using Snapchat records. Additionally, they compared his car to the one he had posted on Snapchat. According to the document, Gardner’s account sent the child messages that were highly sexually explicit. Gardner is currently in the Smith County Jail.