SEYMOUR, Ind. (WDRB) -- Police in Seymour say a 55-year-old man who thought he was texting and meeting a teenage girl for sex was actually texting a detective posing as that girl.
Seymour Police arrested Larry A. Grubbs on Monday after detectives say he was trying to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex. Instead, he was greeted by a swarm of officers.
“We received a complaint that a mother had brought in her child who was receiving text messages from an adult male,” Seymour Police Det. Sgt. Chris Franklin said. “It was determined that because of the messages, that we should intercede and take the juvenile and the family out of the equation.”
Franklin said he began texting with Grubbs on Saturday, posing as the teenage girl. He said he spent a total of about five hours in total texting with him over the course of the weekend.
“The conversations or texts kind of escalated in nature and turned sexual,” Franklin said. “We were able to basically get a time and a date set up for a meeting with him.”
That meeting was set for this past Monday afternoon in the parking lot of the Mi Casa restaurant in Seymour. But rather than being greeted by a teenage girl, Grubbs was greeted by a swarm of police officers.
“We had a utility vehicle that our SWAT team uses was actually in the parking lot. He was being observed from inside there,” Franklin said. “Once he arrived and showed up at that location, we went ahead and did a take down.”
According to Franklin, Grubbs admitted to texting the girl and said he was planning to meet her for sex. However, Grubbs told officers he didn’t know the girl before the texting began.
“He said that he didn't know the person and that the number just showed up on his phone, maybe by a mis-dial,” Franklin said. “He started texting, asking questions, and once he thought that he was talking to a female, he started being a little more aggressive.”
This was not the first time police say they’ve dealt with Grubbs. Detectives said they investigated a case last year in which Grubbs left a note on a 17-year-old girl’s car saying she was attractive and asking her to call him. He used the same phone in that case as the case this past weekend.
Grubbs was initially charged with sexual misconduct with a minor and as of Wednesday afternoon remained in the Jackson County jail without bond.
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