28 year old man arrested on child solicitation charge

A 28 year old man from Lafayette was arrested yesterday and now faces a felony count of child solicitation after he arranged a meeting with an alleged 15 year old girl.

A detective from Indiana State Police encountered a person who had created a false Facebook profile in an effort to locate a child predator. The person created a profile of a 15 year old girl named Erica and shared it with unknown Facebook users. In a short period, the Lafayette man, Willie Richardson, sent an unsolicited message to “Erica” and after realizing  that she is 15 years old, Richardson continued sending her sexually explicit messages.

Richardson arranged a meeting with “Erica”. He planned to pick “Erica” up at Bloomington Walmart, rent a hotel room and have sexual intercourse with the her.

After his arrival in Bloomington, he did not meet “Erica” but the man who created the fake Facebook profile. The man videotaped his encounter with Richardson. The videotape was provided to the police as evidence.

On the video Richardson denies that he was in Bloomington to meet any girl.

Officers tracked down Richardson at his home in Briarwood Court in Lafayette.

A warrant for the arrest of Richardson was released after the information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office.