A 42-year-old Hawaii man remained in the Kane County Jail on Monday in lieu of 10 percent of his $200,000 bond after Carpentersville police said he had used the Internet to set up a meeting with a 14-year-old girl to have sex, authorities said.
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The girl was fictional and Robert Booth of Honolulu was charged Saturday with attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse, authorities said.
During conversations in Internet chat rooms Friday night and early Saturday, a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl allegedly identified himself several times as an underage girl, but Booth persisted in arranging a meeting for sex about 2 p.m. Saturday behind the Meadowdale Mall Cinema 12 in the 0 to 99 block of Meadowdale Mall Drive, police said.
“(Booth) was like a deer frozen in the headlights” when he encountered a female detective instead of the teen, said Carpentersville Police Lt. Tony DePippo. The sting operation was part of a stepped-up surveillance program of Internet activity by local authorities, he said.
Booth was visiting the Chicago area receiving training from his airline employer, police said.
Booth’s family members told authorities they would attempt to get Booth released by raising bond money before his Nov. 12 court date, police said.