Man Tried To Meet 13-Year-Old For Sex, Wagoner Police Say

The Wagoner Police Department and the FBI teamed up to catch a man attempting to meet with a 13-year-old girl for sex.

The girl's mom thought it was suspicious when her daughter told her about some concerning text messages from a person she didn't know, so Wagoner law enforcement agencies worked together to put the suspect behind bars.

"The way they spelled, the way they were talking — it just sounded like a child. I didn't really think anything of it," said the girl's mother, who wished to remain anonymous.

The girl was receiving text messages from someone she didn't know, but believed might've been one of her classmates.

"I check her phone because I'm always like, you may think you are talking to a teenager, but it could be some yucky old man," the girl's mother said.

The girl's mom asked how the person got her phone number, and her daughter realized it was visible to the public on Facebook.

"She reactivated it when she put it on her new phone and it put her phone number on Facebook, and she didn't know it, and I didn't know it," she said.

The mom became concerned after she learned that the person was asking her daughter to meet up for sex.

That's when the police got involved.

"I thought this was a pretty serious situation and that's when I took over the phone with the parents' permission, and began the investigation," said Wagoner Police Officer Ryan Bridges.

"During these conversations he was made aware of the age of the juvenile and he indicated that he was aware of that and discussed things that he wanted to do," said Wagoner Police Chief Bob Haley.

Officers then used the girl's phone to organize a place to meet up and arrest the suspect.

"He arrived this afternoon at the apartment complex and our officers were waiting for him and he was taken into custody at that point," Haley said.

But suspicious people reaching out to young teens on social media is not uncommon.

"You gotta know who you're adding on Facebook and Twitter, who you're friends with and who you're following if you don't know them. You don't know who that person is and what they are out to do," Bridges said.

The suspect was taken into custody and his charges are pending. The family says they are relieved.