A 29-year-old man from Grand Rapids, Michigan is accused of trying to purchase children for the purposes of sexual assault. Police say that the assaults hadn’t happened yet when they arrested him, but he was prepared for them.
According to police, the Kent County man named Riggs attempted to purchase children online in order to sexually exploit them. He unknowingly set up the purchase with an undercover agent from the Michigan State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The task force was conducting a sting and Riggs fell straight into their trap.
Riggs showed up for the exchange. He hoped to be given the children, but was arrested instead by police officers who were waiting for him. The arrest took place on 44th Street SE and Division Avenue in Grand Rapids, Kent County.
Police officers that were present on scene at the time say that he came prepared with items “related to the planned sexual assault.” However, they did not say what those items were. They also claimed that Riggs admitted that his intentions were to sexually assault minors.
According to media sources, Riggs only moved to Michigan recently, having grown up in Florida. His family there was apparently surprised by the nature of the charges and shared with news sites that Riggs had had a few minor legal scrapes in the past, but had never done anything “bad” before.
Although Riggs has no criminal record here in Michigan, he has had a couple of run ins with the law back in Middleburg, Florida. In 2005 he was convicted of Petty Theft. More recently, he served a sentence for Leaving The Scene of a Crash and was released on probation on March 1st of this year.
According to the Michigan State Police, Riggs is being held in the Kent County Jail pending his next court court appearance. He has been charged with Child Sexually Abusive Activity and Using a Computer to Commit a Crime.
According to The Kronzek Firm sex crime attorneys, under Michigan law, Using a Computer to Commit a Crime is punished based on the crime that the person was going to use the computer to commit. If the underlying crime was a misdemeanor then the computer charge with be a two year felony. In cases like this, where the underlying crime is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $100,000, then the computer crime will be charged as a 10 year felony with potential fines of up to $10,000.
For more information about sexual assault charges, go to www.SexCrimeAttorneys.com