A 47-year-old man from Spruce Grove was arrested after he allegedly travelled to Calgary to have sex with a youth. The suspect thought he was meeting a youth for sex, but was actually talking online with an Internet Child Exploitation investigator. Investigators began engaging with the suspect in August, who is alleged to have engaged in sexually explicit conversations and made arrangements to meet for sex, going as far as offering to bring a “day-after pill,” according to a media release from ALERT. “Once the suspect moved the conversation from social media to private messaging, it quickly became sexually explicit, even despite the suspect being alerted that he was chatting with a youth,” said Staff Sgt. Gordon MacDonald in a media release. “Trying to steer users towards private messaging applications is a tactic often employed to evade built-in platform securities of mainstream social media services.” Franklin Lopez was arrested in Calgary and is charged with making arrangements or agreement to commit sexual offences against a child, making child sexual abuse and exploitation material, invitation to sexual touching, and luring a child. Lopez was released from custody and is to appear in court on Oct. 28. Investigators are concerned that this may not be an isolated event, although no child was harmed in this incident, and are exploring the possibility of victims. Lopez’s electronic devices have been seized and a forensic analysis is underway. Anyone with information about the investigation is asked to contact local police.
