Technology has made it increasingly easier for law enforcement officials to go "undercover" as minors when all they have to do is be able to write as a young child would. Police officials across the nation conduct investigations by setting up online sting operations where they act as though they are young boys or girls interested in sexual activity with adults. The anonymity of the internet allows adult enforcement officials who could never play the role of a minor in real life to be able to entice solicitations from adults across America.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office recently sent agents to Bloomingdale, Ohio where they arrested a 35-year-old man for the alleged online solicitation of a minor through an internet chat room. The man believed that he was conversing with a 13-year-old girl in the chat room. Unbeknownst to the man, the young girl he was chatting with was actually an undercover agent with the child predator unit.

The undercover agent was able to convince the man to send her a video of him completely disrobed and lying on a mattress while participating in sexual activity. The agent proceeded to continue conversations with the man for over a week where he expressed the desire to meet in person. The man allegedly described several acts in detail that he had hoped to experience with the young girl.

Authorities arrested in at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 22, 2010. He was charged with unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communications facility as a result of the alleged internet sex crimes. The court set bail at $200,000.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Ohio man arrested in Internet child sex sting" 10/24/10