Michigan professor arrested after traveling to South Florida to meet minor for sex, FDLE says

James Cavalcoli arrested in Weston

WESTON, Fla. – A professor from the University of Michigan was arrested Friday in Broward County,  accused of traveling to South Florida to have sex with a teenage girl.

James Cavalcoli, 51, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was arrested in Weston after traveling from Michigan to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

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The FDLE said Cavalcoli was actually communicating with an undercover police officer.

Cavalcoli made arrangements to meet the child through an undercover FDLE agent whom he believed to be the child's father, the FDLE said. The officer said he began communicating with a "Jim" on a website that catered to men discussing fetishes, child pornography and sexual activity with young boys around Thanksgiving in 2013.

Investigators said Cavalcoli had multiple digital devices, including a personal laptop, at the time of the arrest. Those items were confiscated as evidence and are undergoing forensic examination.

Cavalcoli is an assistant professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics at the University of Michigan, according to school records.

He was booked into the Broward County jail and was expected to appear in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

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