An alleged child predator is under arrest after a clever Arizona teen gave him her mother's phone number, claiming it was her own.
37-year-old Isaiah Navarro was outsmarted by a girl he approached on her way home from school. From his vehicle, Navarro attempted to make conversation with the 14-year-old, asking for directions to McDonald's, then for her phone number. He persisted after she declined, so she entered her mom's phone number into his phone and continued home.
According to Glendale Police, Navarro began texting the number under the impression he was talking with the girl. Posing as the 14-year-old, police continued the text conversation with Navarro on a secure app.
"He still thinks he's having a conversation with a 14-year-old. It becomes very graphic very quickly. He starts describing sexual acts that he says he'd like to do with this 14-year-old," Jose Santiago, Glendale's Public Safety Media Relations Manager, told 12 News.
The police report claims Navarro attempted to exchange pictures with the girl and called her roughly 30 times before a meeting was arranged. In a gym parking lot where Navarro expected to meet the minor, Glendale detectives placed him under arrest.
"We have no records of him having any prior arrests, we have no contact of him being in jail at any other time as of yet, but this is someone who was pretty brazen," Santiago said. "The fact that he was capable and willing to do this with a 14-year-old, who knows what else he would've been capable of doing."
Police ask anyone with additional information about this suspect to call Glendale detectives at 623-930-3000.
Navarro is held on a $250,000 bond under charges of with luring a minor for sexual exploitation.
Originally published by Latin Times.
