Police say Michigan man was trying to arrange for sex with ‘child’

WAUKEGAN – A Michigan man is facing charges after police said he tried to meet a “child” for a sexual relationship.

On Feb. 9, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division, in collaboration with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, concluded an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a man for the offense of indecent solicitation of a child, according to a news release.

For the past several weeks, Kyle J. Conner, 36, of the 700 block of East Hazelhurst Street, Ferndale, Michigan, was communicating with an undercover detective online. The detective was posing as a girl under the age of 15. During the conversations, Conner asked the “child” for nude images of herself and also sent her sexually explicit images of himself, police said. Conner then made arrangements to meet for a sexual encounter, police said.

On Feb. 9, Conner was in the Chicago area, working at a convention, police said. He finalized his plan to meet for a sexual encounter. Instead of meeting the girl, Conner met detectives and was arrested without incident.

Conner was charged with indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 3 felony; traveling to meet a minor, a Class 3 felony; and distributing harmful material, a Class 4 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,” Sheriff John Idleburg said in the release. “We are going to continue being aggressive in seeking those who prey on our children.”