A guilty plea in Net sex case

PROVO — A man told a judge Tuesday in 4th District Court he was guilty of attempting to engage in sexual activities with a minor he met while chatting on the Internet.

Geoffrey Barnes was originally charged with two first-degree felony counts of sodomy on a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child. However, the charge was reduced to attempting to entice a minor over the Internet, a second-degree felony, to which Barnes pleaded guilty.

On June 2, Barnes started chatting online with someone he thought was a 13-year-old female. He asked her sexually explicit questions, then set up a time and place to meet.

When Barnes arrived at the location, he was met by an undercover officer who had been posing online as the teenage girl. Barnes later admitted to having the sexual conversation and was booked into jail. Barnes will face sentencing in October.