SPANISH FORK, Utah – Authorities have arrested a 27-year-old Spanish Fork man after they said he tried to lure in a 13-year-old girl over the internet.
According to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, Russell Jay Lake was arrested after he tried to meet up with a 13-year-old girl to “engage in illegal sexual activity.”
However, the underage girl in this case was actually a Utah County Sheriff’s detective who had been talking with Lake online since October.
Deputies said Lake originally used an app that allows anonymous communications limited to a certain geographical area.
But then he moved those communications to email and in those emails he described sexual acts he would like to perform on the person he thought was the 13-year-old girl.
Lake set up a meeting with whom he thought was a minor but was actually met by authorities and arrested.
He is facing charges including attempted sodomy on a child, attempted object rape of a child, attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and enticing or luring a minor by internet or text, all 2nd Degree felonies.
