A 21-year-old Tennessee man has been arrested in northern Michigan after authorities there say he tried to enroll in their local high school to date a student.
"I would strongly encourage parents to have conversations with their children about the dangers of online chatting and the sharing of information over the internet or social media platforms," Sheriff Kim Cole said in a statement.
On the afternoon before Valentine's Day, the unnamed suspect arrived at a district office on the shores of Lake Michigan and allegedly posed as a 17-year-old and provided multiple fake names and dates of birth.
The district employee called the building's school resource officer, Deputy Luke Postma, who uncovered a series of inconsistencies in the Tennessee man's story.
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The suspect's name has not been released, but he allegedly admitted it to authorities and told them that he took a plane to Grand Rapids, Michigan from Fort Campbell, Tennessee.
Then he made his way to Mason County, about 275 miles from the border with Ontario, Canada, and showed up at a district office to try and sign up for classes.
"He had allegedly met a [Mason County Central School] student online in an effort to engage in a relationship with that student," Cole's office said in a statement.
The sheriff praised the responding deputy and the school employee who reported the suspicious behavior.
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The Tennessee suspect faces charges of possession of child sexually abusive material, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing false information to a law enforcement officer.
"Although I wished this series of events never unfolded, I couldn’t be more proud of the MCC employees, Deputy Postma, and our detectives. Sadly, situations like this are playing out every day, where adults are preying upon our children.
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For years, experts have warned about the dangers of children chatting with strangers on the internet.
In January, Washington state authorities warned parents about online chat apps after a 14-year-old girl vanished and later resurfaced in South Haven, Michigan.
They found her weeks later and arrested a 30-year-old registered sex offender named Keith Freeksen.
