The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
An Orwell, Ohio man attending Youngstown State University was arrested as the result of an ongoing local police department sex sting. The man believed that an undercover officer was a 15-year-old boy, and he allegedly pursued a physical relationship with the teenage imposter through online communication.
On December 5, 22-year-old Albert Maruna, IV began interacting with a person with whom he located through an online dating application. He was under the impression that he was interacting with a teenage boy. Over the course of a week he engaged in online conversation which turned sexual in nature, including descriptive messages about specific explicit acts he would like to perform together, and nude photographs. He is also believed to have developed romantic feelings for the boy based on the content of his messages.
In actuality Maruna was corresponding with an undercover officer posing as the teen in an ongoing sex sting operation. According to the police report, when the officer first informed Maruna that he was 15, Maruna stated that he does not believe in age, and he was comfortable with the situation as long as the boy was as well.