"Doesn't it turn you on a bit to talk about sex with a grown-up?"
On Wednesday afternoon, a 52-year-old man was arrested and taken into custody while he waited in Le Havre to meet a 12-year-old girl with whom he had been chatting on Facebook since March 30.
The story of this hunt, led by an anti-pedophile association, is told by our colleagues from France Bleu.
The young girl did not exist, her profile had been created by the association "Les enfants d'Argus".
The latter's mission is to track pedophiles on social networks.
She claims to have contributed to the arrest of 18 suspected pedophiles for a year, in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.
The man is said to be a job seeker, single and the father of three children.
He had questioned the teenager about her physical characteristics without knowing that he was trapped, before asking her more intimate questions, such as his "excitement" to "talk about sex with a grown-up".
The law against sexual violence against minors voted on Thursday
Seized by the association, the public prosecutor of Le Havre and the police got in touch with these citizens and recovered the screenshots of the conversations.
They were thus able to go to the meeting place agreed between the man and the false girl, and proceed to the arrest of the alleged pedophile.
This arrest came on the eve of a milestone for the evolution of the law against sexual violence against minors.
The Parliament is preparing to validate, this Thursday, the bill which fixes in particular at 15 years the threshold of consent - 18 years in case of incest.
READ ALSO>
Incest accusations: what Olivier Duhamel told investigators
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
Since the publication of the book La Familia Grande by Camille Kouchner, cases of incest and sexual violence against minors have resounded, demonstrating the usefulness of finding an answer to them in the law.
This new bill sends a message that could not be more "clear": "No adult can rely on the consent of a minor" under 15 years, argues the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti.
