DECATUR — A convicted sexual predator who tried to lure what he thought was a 15-year-girl to Decatur for a sexual liaison with the promise of giving her methamphetamine and not getting her pregnant has been sent to prison for three years.

Eric L. Crawford, 43, had appeared in Macon County Circuit Court and admitted a charge of the indecent solicitation of a child.

The admission was part of a plea deal negotiated by defense attorney Caleb Brown. Further charges of indecent solicitation, grooming, distributing explicit material to a minor and violating the sex offender registration act were dismissed by Judge Jeffrey Geisler as part of the plea agreement.

Crawford had previously been pleading not guilty to all charges but changed his mind at a court appearance Aug. 1.

A sworn affidavit from Decatur police said was arrested on the evening of March 21 in the 1200 block of East Wood Street. This was the location where he had arranged to meet the girl who told him she was getting a ride in from her home in Burlington, Iowa.

But Detective Todd Koester, who signed the affidavit, said Crawford had in fact been speaking with Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office deputies via Facebook Messenger since the beginning of March.

The cops had played the part of the teenage girl Crawford thought he was enticing to Decatur for sex. In addition to the promise of drugs and a pledge not to get her pregnant, Koester said the defendant had also sent nude pictures of himself.

When arrested, Crawford is quoted as admitting to police that he had intended to meet a girl and “it was possible that they were going to have sex during their encounter.”

A check of the sex offender database maintained by the State Police shows Crawford had been convicted of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse of an 11-year-old victim when the defendant was aged 23.

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