Man tried to arrange sex with child but was corresponding with undercover officer, police say
A man from Ashland has been jailed after police say he tried to arrange to have sex with a 12-year-old girl but was unwittingly communicating with an undercover officer.
Anthony Smith, 29, “reached out to a prostitution profile found on a website,” and asked the person he thought was a prostitute if they could “provide a juvenile for sex,” Ashland police said in a uniform citation filed in Boyd District Court.
The undercover officer began corresponding with Smith Tuesday, police said, and on Wednesday spoke with him by phone, pretending to be the mother of a 12-year-old girl.
Police said he agreed to pay $2,000 to perform sexual acts with the child and asked for nude photos of her during the conversation, according to the citation.
Smith and the undercover officer agreed to meet at his apartment Thursday morning, and when officers from multiple agencies arrived, police said he was standing in the lobby watching the parking lot through the window while texting with the undercover officer. He was arrested after being identified through photos he had sent the officer, police said.
Police said Smith told them “he knew what he was doing was wrong and that he didn’t intend on carrying out the acts and believed the mother and the juvenile would not actually come.
“Smith also admitted he was attracted to children but stated he would never act on these attractions,” the citation states.
Smith was taken to the Boyd County Detention Center and is charged with attempted human trafficking — commercial sex activity with a victim under 18 and procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means.
He was being held on $100,000 bond, court records show.
The investigation involved Ashland police, Kentucky State Police, Jeffersontown police and the FBI, Ashland police said in a Facebook post.
