I might get flamed for this,and Im sure most will disagree with me.But,,,,,,there was no actual teen involved,all the participants were above legal age.How is a chat between consenting adults illegal?
There was NO underage teen involved in any way shape or form.
Not going to flame you as I agree with you that this is an entrapment. There was no underaged person involved. Sending photos that may or may not have been pornographic to a 40 year old deputy likely is not illegal (yea, I’m not a lawyer). Did he send photos and plan to “visit” an underaged person? - NO. Years ago I had an unsolicited online conversation with someone claiming to be 15 and “troubled at home” wanting to be taken away from “her” situation and propositioned sexual encounters for “help.” After I commented her to contact her school counselor and mother rather than look for someone on the internet, I was never contacted be “her” again. Pretty sure this was an entrapment effort as well. These stories remind me of the Tom Cruise Movie where they are arrested for “thought crimes.”
It may have been a sting op and you did the right thing and so were not entrapped. But you could have been talking to a Nigerian scammer where they try to entrap and extort money by saying they will expose you for talking with an underage person. This is more common than you might think. You may have talking to an adult male Nigerian located in Lagos hoping to extort you.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2023_0503_Sextortion_Indictment