Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SPANISH FORK — A man previously convicted of aggravated exploitation of a prostitute was arrested Thursday for allegedly trying to meet up with a 13-year-old girl on Craigslist.
That girl, however, was actually an undercover police officer.
Clelon Paul Ames, 57, of Eureka, was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of enticement of a minor.
On April 9, a Pleasant Grove police officer conducting an undercover investigation came across an online ad on Craigslist for a man looking for young girls, according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court.
The officer responded to the ad by posing as a 13-year-old girl, the affidavit states. Ames allegedly began sending the girl emails from an account that an officer said he recognized as an email used in another undercover operation he was involved with.
"Paul began emailing asking for pictures of me. Paul continued to email me asking where I was and what I was doing," the affidavit states.
On Thursday, Ames sent the "girl" an email saying he was in Spanish Fork and asked to know where she was.
"I told him I was at school," the officer replied. "He asked what school and wanted to know what time school gets out. He also asked if I was wearing something that showed my legs. ... I asked what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to stare at my legs. He later said he hadn't kissed or touched anyone for a long time."
Related
Mom offered to sell kidney on Craigslist
A Jacksonville, Florida mother said she posted an ad on Craigslist offering to sell her kidney for $10,000.As the emails continued, Ames said he wanted to perform sexual acts on the girl, according to the affidavit.
The undercover officer agreed to meet Ames at a park in Spanish Fork. In the meantime, the officer found Ames at a coffee shop and followed him.
"I conducted surveillance and watched him leave after he said he was on his way. I conducted a loose follow and observed him circle the park, looking for someone. He then pulled into a parking stall directly in front of (the area they were to meet)," the officer wrote in the report.
Ames was arrested at the park. After he was taken into custody, the officer said he "told me how lonely he was and how he talks to anybody online."
Utah court records show Ames was convicted of misdemeanor sex solicitation in 1991. In 1994, he was convicted of two counts of aggravated exploitation of a prostitute and a sodomy on a child charge was dismissed, according to court records. He was placed on probation, which he successfully completed in 1996.
