A Detroit EMS worker was charged on Friday after he allegedly tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl.
According to Lt. John Michalke from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, Mark Steven Astalos, 40, was charged with four counts of Child Sexually Abusive Activity, one count of Using a Computer to Communicate with Another to Commit a Crime, one count of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime and one count of Possession of Child Sexually Abuse Material.
It all started on Dec. 7 when a detective from the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement (M.A.C.E.) team was monitoring a popular advertising website. The detective responded to an ad and starting talking with someone who "indicated a desire to have sex with an underage girl."
The man who posted the ad, later identified as Astalos, e-mailed and text messaged the detective, who posed as a single mother of a 14-year-old girl. In those e-mails, Astalos described himself as a single father, and also sent "graphic and detailed messages to the detective, including a photograph of himself, dressed in a paramedic uniform."
After investigating, detectives found that Astalos was the man who posted the ad and determined he was from Brownstown Township.
The detective arranged a meeting where Astalos would come to a location in Harrison Township to have sex with the 14-year-old girl. When he arrived on Wednesday, he was arrested and taken to jail.
Astalos was arraigned on those charges Friday and was given a $100,000 cash/surety bond with a provision that he can secure his release if 10% of that amount is posted.
