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Alabama man accused of using fake profile to entice another man to meet girl, 13, for sex

An Alabama man is accused of using a photograph of a 13-year-old girl to set up a fake dating profile and then inviting another man to meet the teen for sex, authorities said.

Jordan David Raper, 18, of Hartselle, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one felony count of traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, and two counts of transmitting obscene material to a child by computer, according to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.

Morgan was transported to the Morgan County Jail and was released after posting $20,000 bail, The Decatur Daily reported.

The charges stem from the alleged use of social media in relation to a child younger than 15, the Sheriff’s Office said.

According to an arrest affidavit filed in Morgan County District Court, Raper set up a fake profile on the dating app Pure and posted a photograph of a 13-year-old girl, the Daily reported.

Posing as the girl, Raper allegedly communicated with an unidentified man who answered the profile, according to the arrest affidavit. Raper then invited the man to the teen’s address and told him to enter her home through a window, the affidavit said.

The man accepted the fake invitation Oct. 9, the Daily reported. When the man entered the home, Morgan County deputies responded to a burglary call, and the man explained he was responding to the dating app profile “to meet up for sexual intercourse,” according to the affidavit.

The man in the home was not charged, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mike Swafford told the Daily on Friday. It was not clear if the man knew the age of the girl at the home.

"(There were) no charges for the other individual involved as it appears he was duped into being there. Due to that, we will not be releasing his name,” Swafford said.

The week before the man traveled to Hartselle, the 13-year-old received Snapchat photos of exposed male genitals, the affidavit said. The Sheriff’s Office subpoenaed information from Snapchat and determined Raper’s email account was used to set up the account.

Another subpoena determined the IP address used to set up the Snapchat account was linked to a computer in Raper’s home, the Daily reported. A search warrant was obtained for Raper’s cellphone, which showed the Snapchat account information and Raper’s email address, according to the affidavit.