MIAMI – A 56-year-old man pled guilty on Thursday after traveling from Minnesota to Florida for what he thought would be a sexual escapade with a 15-year-old girl, according to prosecutors. It was a pedophile hunter-style sting operation involving Miami federal agents.
For about three months, Richard Martin Lehner, who was married, used a dating app to communicate with a user claiming to be a teenage girl who was a virgin and lived in Palm Beach Gardens, prosecutors said.
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Lehner bought condoms and set up a meeting on May 11 at a restaurant with a plan to have sex with the girl at Hilton Garden Inn, prosecutors said. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies were waiting to arrest him.
Lehner is facing a charge of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, which has a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks is scheduled to sentence him at 10:30 a.m., on Nov. 3.