One arrested in child solicitation sting
(ABC 6 News) – Rochester police arrested one man in a child solicitation sting Friday.
According to communications coordinator Amanda Grayson, an investigator posed as a juvenile girl and exchanged messages with a local man.
Police claim 35-year-old Michael Tuma of Owatonna had planned to meet the “juvenile” at Foster Arend Park for sexual acts Friday morning, and was taken into custody June 7.
Tuma was officially charged Monday, June 10, child solicitation and electronic communication–sexual conduct with a child charges, according to Olmsted County Court records.
Tuma appeared in Olmsted County Court at 10:30 a.m. Monday. He was released on $0 bail with conditions, including avoiding any unsupervised contact with minors, or $20,000 bail with no conditions.
According to court documents, on June 4, Rochester police made a post featuring a photo of a teenaged girl on an unspecified social media platform adults often use to solicit children.
The post read, “any nice boys out there as bored on summer break as me??”
According to court documents, a user with the name “Cloud_” messaged police, and the app’s GPS feature indicated they were about 34 miles from Rochester.
The user, whose profile indicated he was a 30-to-35-year-old man, allegedly provided three photos of himself and initiated a sexual conversation after account run by RPD said they were 13 years old.
“Tuma asked the chatter not to tell anyone because it was illegal for him,” court documents read.
Tuma agreed to meet at Foster Arend, and arrived at the pre-arranged time, according to court documents.
Tuma agreed to give a statement and said that he knew his actions were illegal and wrong,” court documents read.