Grovetown police use 'catfishing' to arrest man seeking sex with juvenile
With the help of some technological trickery, Grovetown police identified and arrested a suspect on one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes and two counts of violation of the Child Exploitation and Prevention Act.
Police on Thursday arrested the 22-year-old Grovetown man after using a fake virtual persona, which is sometimes called 'catfishing,' to document his alleged behavior.
According to a news release issued by police Chief Jamey Kitchens, the suspect began conversing with what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl on social media.
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"Despite being advised multiple times that he was conversing with a juvenile, (the suspect) continued to send sexually explicit messages while asking to arrange a meeting to engage in sexual intercourse," Kitchens said. "(He) was very specific and graphic in his intentions."
The suspect arrived to a pre-determined meeting location where he had planned to lead the "girl" back to his home for sex, but instead was arrested without incident. Afterwards, he was informed that the person he had been conversing with was Grovetown police Sgt. William Loomer.
The suspect was transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Grovetown Police arrest man on enticing child, exploitation online
