Sex offender arrested after cop poses as teen on Craigslist

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A registered sex offender in Orange County faces charges after arranging a meeting with someone whom he believed to be a 13-year-old girl on Craigslist but was actually an undercover Huntington Beach police officer, prosecutors said.

Carlton Earl Griner, 55, is set to be arraigned Friday on one felony count each of contacting a child with intent to commit a lewd act, meeting a minor with intent to engage in lewd contact and an attempted lewd act upon a child under 14 years old, according to Orange County District Attorney’s office.

Griner, a Garden Grove resident, is being held on $100,000 bail. If convicted, prosecutors said he could face a maximum sentence of five years in state prison. Griner had been convicted previously in Iowa for owning child pornography, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that Griner is accused of posting an advertisment soliciting sex on Craigslit, and began exchanging sexually explicit emails with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl but who was an undercover officer.

On Jan. 9, prosecutors said that Griner made arrangements with the officer to meet in a shopping center, allegedly with the intent to have sex. Upon arrival, he was arrested by Huntington Beach police.

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