A Michigan man was arrested after authorities say he communicated online with whom he thought was a child and traveled to meet with her in Lake County for a sexual encounter.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) concluded an investigation on Thursday.
For the past several weeks, Kyle J. Conner, 36, of Ferndale, Michigan, was communicating with an undercover detective online, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
The detective was posing as a girl under the age of 15.
During the conversations, Conner asked the “child” for nude images of herself and also sent her sexually explicit images of himself, Covelli said.
Conner allegedly made arrangements to meet the girl for a sexual encounter.
Conner was in the Chicagoland area on Thursday because he was working at a convention.
He finalized his plan to meet the girl for a sexual encounter and drove to meet her, Covelli said.
Instead of meeting the girl, Conner met detectives and was arrested without incident.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges of indecent solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a minor and distributing harmful material.
“Over the last several months, our detectives and Special Investigations Group in collaboration with our federal partners have arrested a number of adults who try and meet children for sex,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“We are going to continue being aggressive in seeking those who prey on our children,” Idleburg said.
Conner is scheduled to appear in court Friday for an initial bond hearing.