4 days ago
Man planned sex acts with girl, told her he's ‘built like Spongebob,' PA cops say
An Indiana man is accused of trying to meet a runaway teen for sex acts, but it really was police waiting for him, officials say.
James Raber of Arlington is facing charges of attempted child molestation and child solicitation, Randolph County court records show.
Raber is 63 years old, WXIN reported.
Over the course of several weeks, Raber sent sexually explicit messages through Facebook Messenger to a 13-year-old girl named Steph — but Steph was actually a fake profile used by a detective with the Randolph County Sheriff's Department, according to a probable cause statement filed May 30.
In the highly graphic messages, Raber repeatedly told Steph about sex acts he wanted to do with her, according to the statement.
'How's my sexy girl this morning?' Raber asked in a May 14 message, the statement said. The detective responded about 12 hours later as Steph, saying she had run away from home and was 'hiding' at a male friend's home.
Raber 'constantly' asked her if she was having sex with the friend, said that he was jealous and that she should stay with him instead, and could stay with him 'long term' if she wanted, the statement read.
He asked her if she would meet with him in person, documents read. She agreed and they made plans to meet at a Village Pantry convenience store in Farmland, at which point they would leave together and get a hotel, the detective said.
On May 29, the day of the meeting, Raber described himself to Steph, documents read.
'Now l'm a very big tall guy, 6'4' 295lbs, I'm built like SpongeBob,' he said, according to documents. 'So if you ever had a fantasy about … SpongeBob, that's me'.
Raber stopped at a nearby bar and had a beer, then parked at the Village Pantry, the statement read. Police pulled in right after and arrested him, according to the detective.
He was booked into the Randolph County Jail, records show.
Randolph County is a roughly 80-mile drive northeast from Indianapolis.
