(BEL AIR, MD) – Maryland State Police arrested a registered sex offender Tuesday on charges he solicited sex from an undercover trooper who was posing as a child over a smartphone app in Harford County.

Scott Dye, 43, of Elkton, Maryland, is charged with one count of sexual solicitation of a minor and three counts of possession of child pornography. He was taken to the Harford County County Detention Center for processing.

According to a preliminary investigation, on Oct. 7 a trooper with the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit was informed by an allied law enforcement agency that Dye was engaging in an inappropriate text chat with who he believed was an underage female. Dye then engaged in another inappropriate conversation with the trooper, who was posing as a 15-year-old female.

The suspect suggested meeting with whom he thought was the minor yesterday in Bel Air, Maryland. According to a preliminary investigation, Dye arrived at that location and troopers arrested him at the scene.

The Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit coordinates the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This is a combined law enforcement effort involving police departments across Maryland that is made possible in part due to grant funds provided by the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth and Victim Services and by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Task force investigators focus on identifying those involved in child pornography via the Internet and other related crimes that victimize children.

           Scott Dye

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CONTACT: Office of Media Communications, msp.media@maryland.gov