MEDIA, Pa. – A state trooper tried to solicit sex with 8- and 10-year-old girls and planned to bring candy and toys to their meeting, authorities working an Internet child-sex probe charged Thursday.
Cpl. Albert Silveri III, 39, of Aston, initiated conversations online with an undercover officer posing as the girls' mother, officials said.
Silveri was arrested at his suburban Philadelphia home late Wednesday after police traced the America Online account to him. The sexually explicit communications took place over several months on a state-issued laptop found in his vehicle, they charged.
Silveri admitted that he owned and used the AOL screen name, District Attorney G. Michael Green said.
He was being held on $250,000 bail at the Delaware County Prison on charges that include solicitation of child rape. It was not clear if he had a lawyer, and a phone message left at his home was not immediately returned.
The trooper discussed having sex with both the fictitious mother and her girls, and planned a meeting but failed to show, according to a police affidavit.
Silveri, an eight-year veteran of the force, worked in a collision reconstruction unit in Philadelphia. He has been suspended without pay, state police spokeswoman Linette Quinn said.
A preliminary hearing is set for July 30.
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