Sussex Man Caught in Internet Sex Sting

A 33-year-old Sussex man is facing charges after he was caught trying to meet up with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex in a Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department Internet sting.

Paul M. Harris was charged in  with one use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 4:52 p.m. on Friday, a sheriff’s deputy was posing as a teenage girl from Waukesha in an Internet chat room when Harris made contact with the persona. He told the deputy he lived in the Pewaukee area and said “too bad you are not older, we could chill,” because 14 was too young.

He then asked what the persona looked like, so the deputy sent a picture and said the girl’s parents were gone for the evening. Harris then began talking about drinking with the persona and said “you are down for anything, huh? Gunna get me in trouble” and said “I have a dirty mind.”

“You are down for anything, huh? Gunna get me in trouble.”

The two stopped chatting for awhile then reengaged around 7:05 p.m. when Harris told the persona he gets horny when he drinks, and they began talking about sex before agreeing to meet at a nearby park in Waukesha. A sheriff’s department official was near the park around the time of the scheduled rendezvous and saw Harris sitting in his pickup truck in the parking lot of a nearby church.

When the official pulled into the parking lot, Harris immediately tried to back up and leave, but was stopped. He initially told the officer a friend had just moved into the area and was waiting for the friend to call, but was soon confronted about the Online chat, which he then admitted to.

He’s currently free on $2,500 bond while awaiting trial.