Maryland man, 59, charged with soliciting 14-year-old boy for sex on dating app

On January 13, Maryland State Police announced that they arrested a man Wednesday on charges that he solicited sex from an undercover trooper who was posing as a child over the Internet in Anne Arundel County.

Mark Hilton, 59, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, has been charged with one count of sexual solicitation of a minor. Following his arrest, he was taken to Anne Arundel County Detention Center for processing.

According to a preliminary investigation, a trooper with the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit in December was monitoring an online dating application while posing as a 14-year-old boy. Hilton initiated an online conversation with the goal of soliciting a sexual encounter with the minor.

Police say that Hilton suggested meeting with whom he thought was the minor on Wednesday in Hanover, Maryland. According to the MSP investigation, Hilton arrived at that location at about 12:25 p.m. Maryland State Police, with assistance from a special agent assigned to the FBI’s Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force, 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.

(Source and Mark Hilton Booking Photo: Maryland State Police)

~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter