As Orange County readers may know, police officers sometimes pose as drug dealers, drug buyers or even teenagers or children to try to trick people into committing a crime. However, just because a person tries to commit an act doesn't mean that person would have made the attempt had the police not been secretive in their own actions. This kind of police tactic has increased in North Carolina, as law enforcement tries to crack down on sex crimes.

Recently, police arrested a 30-year-old North Carolina man and charged him with one count of attempted sex crime, three counts of possession of non-tax-paid liquor and three counts of selling alcoholic beverages without a permit.

Apparently, the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division had been investigating the man in order to charge him with possessing and selling non-taxed alcohol. According to a local news report, law enforcement somehow discovered that the man had shown interest in young teenagers, though exactly how the police came to this conclusion remained unclear.

A computer crimes police unit then expanded the investigation, tricking the man into chatting online with someone from law enforcement who apparently posed as a 14-year-old girl.

Police said the man was arrested at a Kmart when he showed up to meet the supposed teenager he allegedly chatted with online. The man was arrested, taken to the county jail and held there under a $24,000 bond. Police say the investigation is ongoing.

Readers in the Hillsborough area should keep in mind that news reports are usually based on police reports, which are written specifically in an effort to convict. Often, neither police reports nor news reports are as cut and dry as police and prosecutors would like us to think. Many factors come into play in a case involving attempted crimes and police officers posing as other people. Nevertheless, the man in this story will need a strong criminal defense if he is to see a dismissal or reduction of charges.

Source: citizen-times.com, "Asheville Man arrested on sex crime, alcohol charges," Mark Barrett, Jan. 27, 2012