Student accused of trying to trade sex for food with a teenager
A man accused of tried to trade chicken Alfredo for sex with a teen on a gay dating app was jailed this week.
Albert Maruna, 23, of Austintown, Ohio, faces a one-week jail term.
He will also register as a Tier One sex offender and endure 120 days of house arrest.
Charged with alleged attempted unlawful sexual contact with a minor
Then 22, he was arrested after the ‘teen’ turned out to be an undercover cop.
In a sting last December, Maruna sent nudes to the cop posing as a teen.
When the cop told Maruna he was 15, the 22-year-old told him he ‘didn’t believe in age’.
The two then engaged in sexually explicit conversations.
Maruna then developed feelings for the teen’s persona, telling him he hoped they would get married one day.
Police, according to NBC, said Maruna called the fake profile his ‘one and only’.
On 12 December, Maruna planned a romantic encounter.
‘Caught’ with chicken Alfredo and two bottles of Sprite
He promised to bring a chicken Alfredo dish, Sprite and lube.
Upon arriving at the meeting place, Maruna was arrested and charged with importuning, disseminating matter harmful or obscene to juveniles, possession of criminal tools and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
In Maruna’s possession were a Tupperware container of chicken Alfredo, two bottles of Sprite, Astroglide, Vaseline, an iPhone, a MacBook, and zip drives, Fox19 reported.
After his arrest, Maruna told police he didn’t believe having sex with a 15-year-old was wrong.
While it is not confirmed that Maruna was using Grindr, many gay dating apps have a minimum age policy.
‘No use by underage persons,’ the apps states. ‘No persons under the age of 18 (21 in places where 18 is not the age of majority) may directly or indirectly view, possess or otherwise use the Grindr services.’
The age of consent in Ohio is 16 years old.
