SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been arrested in an undercover sting after authorities say he offered $400 to rape a 9-year-old girl.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/2qAtwCO ) 28-year-old Michael Anthony Carpenter was arrested May 20 and faces a federal charge of using the internet to solicit child rape.
The complaint filed by Homeland Security Investigations Agent Glen Blache says an undercover Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force member who was posing as the aunt of a 9-year-old girl received a text from Carpenter saying the exchange would be fulfilling his "fantasy."
Australian authorities linked an online child pornography account to Carpenter, who had been suspected since August of disseminating such material.
Carpenter is being held without bond. A federal defender has been appointed to his case.