Lawyers for a San Tan Valley teen accused in a string of sexual assaults now claim he was set up.
Tyler Kost was 18 when he was arrested and charged with 30 sex-related crimes. Prosecutors said there were more than a dozen victims, some as young as 13 years old.
In a court hearing on Monday Kost's lawyers described transcripts of a Facebook chat in which some of those victims and their friends discuss ways to get revenge on Kost.
Court documents show they never explicitly say they're going to frame Kost, but they agreed to meet at a house to "plan".
"He needs to be taught a lesson," one wrote.
Another replied "He's gonna feel the pain he put every girl thru (sic)".
Kost's lawyers said that conversation happened February 20th. Within the next month, they say two of the girls who participated in it had accused Kost of abusing them.
"A group of girls actually conspired against him," defense attorney Christine Whalin said outside the Pinal County Courthouse. "They conspired to put Tyler in jail. They succeeded. Tyler's been sitting in jail for almost a year based on the lies of these girls."
But 12 News spoke to a girl who says she was a participant in those conversations, and says Kost and his lawyers are trying to blame the real victims in this case.
"We were just a bunch of pissed off teenage girls," Michelle Holmes said. "We were just ranting and venting and getting it off our chest."
Holmes is not one of the victims listed in Kost's charges, but says she knows the girls who are. And she says Kost harassed her as well.
"It's been almost three years since it happened and they're going to have the nerve to call me a liar?" Holmes said. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Kost's lawyers told the judge they needed the prosecution's help to get to the bottom of those Facebook chats. They said they wanted the social media history of every victim, and a few of their friends.
But they said Facebook's policy is to only give that information to law enforcement. Since it's evidence that could potentially exonerate Kost, his lawyers said the prosecution has a duty to help them get it.
The judge in the case said he would take it under advisement. Kost's next court appearance is in 30 days.
