Madison police report that they arrested a Hope man on Friday and are accusing him of being sexually involved with a minor.

40-year-old Manuel B. Perkins is under arrest on a preliminary charge of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The incident happened Friday, when officers were called to a report of suspicious vehicle in a neighborhood. Perkins allegedly told officers that he was in the area teaching a friend how to drive, even though there was no one else in the vehicle. Perkins said that his friend was an 18-year-old that he met through social media but he only knew the friend by his first name.

Soon, a 14-year-old boy left a nearby home and Perkins identified the teen as the friend he was there to meet. After talking with the teen’s mother, police discovered allegedly inappropriate phone messages between the two. The teen also told police that he and Perkins had been sexually active, exchanging money and gifts for sexual favors.