SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – A 24-year-old man is behind bars after arranging to meet up with a 13-year-old girl for sex then showing up in a rideshare to meet her.
According to arresting documents, the FBI Child exploitation task force were performing an undercover operation where they posed as a 13-year-old online and were contacted by an man, later identified as Jalen Marquis Neal.
Neal believed he was chatting with a 13-year-old boy and asked the minor about what he liked to do sexually and talked about meeting up.
The agent then asked what they would do, and Neal stated that that they could have sex and made arrangements to meet at the minor’s home.
According to documents, Neal then called a ride share driver to pick him up and take him to the designated location where they would pick up the boy and return to Neal’s home to have sex.
Once the driver arrived at the address given, they were stopped by officers.
Neal was in the back seat of the car and had gone into his social media application and deleted the conversation which, deleted the conversation on both ends.
Police said in the report Neal did this to hide why he was there and get rid of evidence.
Neal was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Saturday for one second-degree felony entice or solicitation of a minor over the internet and one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice.
A background check of Neal did not produce any criminal history in Utah.
Report suspicion of child sexual exploitation to your local police, your ICAC Task Force or the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline (www.cybertipline.com or 1-800-843-5678).
