A Craigslist advertisement designed to entice men interested in having sex with a young girl allegedly snared a Virginia man who offered beer in exchange for sex with a 13-year-old girl, a Leesburg detective said in court documents.
The detective posted the advertisement Nov. 2 in the free advertising Web site’s “casual encounters” section. Claude Philip Diehl Jr., of Hollywood, allegedly responded to the advertisement and has been accused of making a five-hour drive to a Leesburg hotel to have sex with the girl.
Craigslist has been under fire for more than a year for the sex advertisements posted on the Web site. Last spring, after a Boston medical student was accused of killing a prostitute he met through the Web site, Craigslist officials promised to crack down on the sex advertisements. The site now requires advertisers to pay to post in the exotic services section so they can be better tracked by law enforcement.
But law enforcement has also found the Web site to be a tool in catching men who are willing to pay for sex, particularly with children.
The Leesburg detective’s advertisement was titled “Leftover Halloween candy?” and it read, “Anyone have candy to donate to ‘girl’ so she’s not sad anymore?”
Though the advertisement was not explicit about sexual activity, the detective wrote in a sworn statement that after Diehl contacted him, the detective explained that “we were discussing him paying to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, who was purported to be my daughter.”
For three weeks, the two discussed their plans for a meeting, both over the phone and via e-mail, court documents said. During those discussions, Diehl allegedly said he knew what he was doing was illegal, and he feared he would be arrested if he made the trip north for the tryst.
Diehl, the detective wrote, said he worked for a beer distributor and though he didn’t have much cash, he could pay the “father” with $40 and five cases of beer. The detective agreed, and the two reportedly met Tuesday morning at the Hampton Inn in Leesburg.
They chatted for 45 minutes, and then Diehl went to get the agreed-on five cases of beer, court documents said. Diehl was taken into custody after loading the beer into the detective’s car, documents said.
He had condoms and an album by teen pop sensation Miley Cyrus with him, court documents said.
