Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Nude pictures go to officer; man held

- EMMA PETTIT AND RACHEL HERZOG AND BRANDON RIDDLE ARKANSAS ONLINE

A Jacksonvil­le man was arrested Friday on accusation­s that he sent nude photos to an Instagram account that he thought belonged to a 14-year-old, then tried to meet up with her for sex, police said.

Mark Maples, 56, was arrested at Dupree Park around 2:30 p.m., according to a Jacksonvil­le Police Department report.

On Friday, Maples communicat­ed over Instagram, a smartphone app, with a person he thought was a 14-yearold girl, police said. The account actually belonged to a police detective.

Police said Maples sent nude photos, then made arrangemen­ts to meet the girl for sex.

He parked next to a vehicle he thought the girl would be in and had with him agreed-upon “items” for the encounter, the report said.

Maples was charged with engaging a child in sexually explicit conduct, Internet stalking of a child, sexual indecency with a child, all felonies, and contributi­ng to the delinquenc­y of a minor, a misdemeano­r.

He was being held Saturday in lieu of $12,500 bond, according to the Pulaski County jail online inmate roster.

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