Who was under age?
Not one person in the conversation.
Are you reading the same article?
She told him she was 19. She also told him she was 15.
She wasn’t even a she.
The cops set out to arrest someone. That’s what they did. But it’s okay to completely and utterly destroy someone over make believe.
He continued on with the intent to have sex with somebody he believed to be underage. That is a crime. It’s one thing to do it by accident or deception, but when he procedes to commit the act after becoming informed, well, it’s kind of like diving into a pool after being told the water was drained, it’s not going to end well.