Living in a van down by the river, as the late Chris Farley eloquently explained, is not the most admirable abode for anyone. Living in your car parked half a mile from the 14-year-old to whom you've been anonymously writing sexually charged notes offering to pay her for sex is way south of not the most admirable.
As you may have guessed based on our lead, a man doing just this was arrested last week on charges of luring a minor for sexual exploitation and child prostitution.
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office began investigating 36-year-old Kenneth McDaniel in June after hand-written notes that were "sexual in nature" were delivered to the home of the girl.
We spoke to Tim Gaffney, spokesman for the PCSO, who told us that McDaniel offered to pay the victim $40 for a back rub. That was McDaniel's most polite offer. Gaffney described some of the other deals McDaniel was offering -- and let's just say it's the kind of stuff a self-respecting adult wouldn't say to even a back-alley hooker.
In any event, the letters McDaniel left at the girl's house were turned over to police by her parents, which prompted an investigation.
During the probe, it was discovered that the girl was also receiving text messages, similar to the letters getting left at her home, from five different pre-paid cell phone numbers..
Police were able to trace the numbers to McDaniel.
Cops tracked down McDaniel at his home, which doubled as his car and was parked near the victim's house.
McDaniel denied writing the letters and text messages, but police served him with an order of protection obtained by the girl's parents.
McDaniel agreed that relocating would probably be a good idea and said he planned to move in with his mother in Peoria.
However, on August 28, the victim, and another 14-year-old girl, began receiving more text messages allegedly from McDaniel.
Police tracked McDaniel down at Central Arizona College, where he was a student, and placed him under arrest.
He was taken to the Pinal County Jail and charged with 17 counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation and one count of attempted child prostitution.
