Spruce Grove man charged in ALERT sting targeting online child exploitation

Franklin Lopez, a 47-year-old from Spruce Grove, was arrested October 2 in Calgary following a sting operation by ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit. The investigation began in August after an ICE investigator posed as a Calgary child online.

According to ICE Staff Sgt. Gordon MacDonald, the suspect moved the conversation from social media to private messaging, where it quickly became sexually explicit. He then arranged to meet the person for sex and offered to bring a "day-after pill." ICE assesses that the suspect was told he was chatting with a youth, but investigators are exploring whether this was an isolated event and whether real victims may exist.

"Trying to steer users towards private messaging applications is a tactic often employed to evade built-in platform securities of mainstream social media services," MacDonald said in a statement.

Lopez is charged with making arrangements or an agreement to commit sexual offences against a child, making child sexual abuse and exploitation material, invitation to sexual touching, and luring a child. His devices are being searched and analyzed. He is scheduled to appear in court October 28.

The allegations have not been tested in court.