GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Customs and Border Protection agent from Monroe County was arrested Thursday after being accused of soliciting sex and sending obscene material to an undercover officer posing as a teenager.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, 51-year-old Harry Peless III was arrested Thursday by FBI agents.
The USAO office says Peless began talking with the undercover officer last September. The undercover officer was posing as a 13-year-old girl.
“According to the criminal complaint, during their near daily online conversations, Peless sent obscene material and multiple requests for the undercover officer to run away with Peless and have sex,” the USAO office said in a news release.
Investigators also found evidence that showed Peless had exchanged messages with the undercover officer while he was at work.
The FBI is leading the investigation. CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General are also assisting. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eaton Brown is prosecuting the case.
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