LEWISTON – A woman researching Internet crime for a school project Friday led police to a man investigators say tried to arrange a meeting with a 13-year-old girl.
Adrian Saavedra, 23, of 142 College St., was charged with solicitation of a child by computer after showing up in downtown Lewiston where police were waiting.
Police said a local woman had been researching online predators by posing as a 13-year-old girl on the Web.
When a local man contacted her and began suggesting a meeting, the woman alerted police.
“He wanted to meet with her, believing she was a 13-year-old girl,” said Lewiston police Lt. Tom Avery. “He made references to sexual acts.”
Police Detective Scot Bradeen, who works with the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force, began to investigate the case.
At about 11:30 a.m., police said, Sanedra arrived at a Lewiston location where he expected to meet with the girl he had chatted with online.
Instead, the person waiting for him was a female police officer.
Other police officers quickly rushed in and arrested Saavedra on the misdemeanor charge of soliciting a child.
Avery commended the woman who provided the tip with advising police about the situation.
However, he cautioned others against trying to tackle online investigations on their own.
“When we get information like this, we take it very seriously,” Avery said. “But we encourage people to use extreme caution. Nobody should be out there trying to investigate these types of things on their own.
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