Jackson man among 15 people arrested for soliciting underage teens on the Internet

Editor's note: This case did not go to trial due to a lack of a victim, according to Dunklin County Prosecutors.

A Jackson man was one of 15 people arrested for soliciting underage teens over the Internet in an undercover police operation.

Evan McManaman, 25, of Jackson, was arrested March 3 as he walked into a Kennett, Mo. home where he believed a 13-year-old girl was waiting to have sex with him, a probable cause filed in the case said. The girl was actually a police officer.

McManaman was charged with second-degree attempted statutory rape, and bond was set at $10,000, according to court records.

The defendant was one of 15 others who have been charged with either second-degree attempted statutory rape, second-degree attempted sodomy or enticement of a child, said Mark Dennis, a tactical officer for the Kennett Police Department.

Kennett police, Bootheel Drug Task Force, and the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department have been running the undercover operation since Feb. 27, where agents pose as underage youth on Web sites such as Myspace.com and Yahoo.com, Dennis said.

Agents have portrayed both girls and boys, ranging in ages between 13 and 15 years old, he said. Defendants have come to a Kennett home from Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee seeking sex with an underage child, he said.

In McManaman's case, the defendant began having an online conversation with an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl via Yahoo! Messenger, the statement read.

During the conversation, McManaman agreed to travel to Kennett and have sex with the girl. The defendant gave over his cell phone number, and the conversation continued about sex, with McManaman saying he would buy condoms. The conversation was recorded digitally, the statement read.

On March 3, McManaman pulled up to the Kennett home and was greeted by a "female decoy," according to the statement. When he entered the home, police arrested him without incident.

During a search of the defendant, police found a package of condoms with a receipt of purchase.

The Kennett operation was scheduled to continue until an unspecified time, according to Dennis.