LAKE COUNTY, Ill. – A Ferndale man has been charged with multiple felonies after he traveled to Chicago to meet an undercover cop posing as a girl under the age of 15 for sex, officials said.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, Kyle Conner, 36, of Ferndale, spent several weeks communicating online with an undercover detective who was posing as a girl under the age of 15.
Deputy Chief Chris Covelli told Local 4 the two had been messaging on apps like Kik and Whisper.
Officials say Conner asked the “child” for nude images of herself and sent her sexually explicit images of himself. He then made arrangements to meet the “girl” for a sexual encounter in the Chicagoland area, according to police.
He was in the area working at a convention on Thursday, (Feb. 9), when he finalized his plan to meet with the “girl” and then drove to see her, officials said. Instead of meeting the girl, police say he met detectives and was arrested.
Conner has been charged with three felonies -- indecent solicitation of a child, a class three felony; traveling to meet a minor, a class three felony; and distributing harmful material, a class four felony.
“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,” said Sheriff John Idleburg of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. “We are going to continue being aggressive in seeking those who prey on our children.”
The 36-year-old appeared in court for the first time on Friday morning. His bond is set for $1 million.