Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Child in Stearns County

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A man from Illinois has pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct after he drove to St. Cloud to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

According to the criminal complaint, on March 31st an undercover investigator of the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force began chatting with a man in an online chatroom that is typically used by teenagers.

The man sent a photo of himself and the undercover agent responded by sending a photo as well. That photo was embedded with an IP tracker which provided the IP address in Hinsdale, Illinois.

The man also gave his cell phone number which was registered to a Verizon account under the name Derrick Willman.

Investigators were able to locate a Facebook account that matched the photos sent to the agent. The two continued to exchange messages via the online chat room, text message, and on the phone.

About two weeks later, the 56-year-old drove to an address in south St. Cloud in a vehicle with an Illinois license plate where he was arrested.

Willman will be sentenced on December 11th.