Man plans meeting with 13-year-old , but cops show up
Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008
BENTONVILLE — Patrick Wade Carson hoped to meet a 13-year-old girl on Thursday, but he was met instead by Benton County Sheriff’s Office investigators.
Carson, 24, of Bentonville was arrested on charges of computer child pornography, a class B felony, and Internet stalking of a child, a class A felony. A class B felony is punishable with a prison sentence ranging from five to 20 years. A class A felony carries a punishment of six to 30 years.
He is being held in the Benton County Jail pending a bond hearing.
BCSO investigator Dennis Schumacher said Carson began communicating in October 2007 with another investigator who was online utilizing the faux profile of a 13-year-old girl. The person online identified himself as Mr 29922806, and investigators later identified him as Carson, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office.
Schumacher said the initial contact lasted for months, then stopped, but Carson began communicating on March 26 with Schumacher, who was online pretending to be a teenage girl. The communication was sexually suggestive, and Carson wanted to meet the girl, Schumacher said. A meeting was arranged for March 26, but Carson did not show up.
Carson arranged a meeting again for Thursday in a church parking lot near Phillips Park in Bentonville, Schumacher said.
Schumacher and Chris Sparks, a BCSO investigator with the Northwest Arkansas Sex Offender and Violent Crime Task Force, went to the meeting place. They were assisted by a female deputy who posed as a 13-year-old, the release states.
Carson arrived at the location and was placed under arrest, Schumacher said.
Schumacher is still surprised that people show up at the meeting locations.
“ Through the conversations, they ask, ‘ Are you guys cops ? ’ and they still show up, ” Schumacher said.
Earlier this month, Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested Aaron Michael Humphrey, 24, of Rogers after he arranged to meet a teenage girl.
Humphrey also was arrested for computer child pornography and Internet stalking of a child.
Sheriff’s investigators have arrested seven suspects, including Carson, since going online in 2006 to apprehend Internet sexual predators.
Last year, Gentry police set up a sting house and arrested seven suspects who came to the house in hopes of meeting a teenager.
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