Canadian trucker charged after allegedly enticing fake underage girl
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — A Canadian man has been charged after an operation by Idaho’s Crimes Against Children’s Task Force, which alleges the driver tried to entice a minor.
According to court documents, a detective with the ICAC task force was conducting a chatting operation online by using a fake profile of a teenage girl on Dec. 8.
The document states that the detective used an anonymous chat application that required users to be 18 years old.
A user messaged the account claiming to be a 37-year-old man. The detective, messaging through the fake account, asked the man if he’d be upset if she weren’t 18 but a 14-year-old.
The man continued messaging the fake account, stating he was a truck driver heading to Pocatello and to call him “daddy.”
The detective messaged the 37-year-old man to see if they had an account on another messenger app, and the conversation was moved there.
The document stated that the account username used the initials “KM,” and the detective asked for a photo of the man, which he later received.
The man in the photo was identified as Kelly Maier, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who was actually 41 years old. The semi-truck was owned by a trucking company based in Fort Macleod, Alberta.
Maier asked the detective for a photo, and the detective sent a manipulated image of a woman posing as a teenager. The document states the woman whose photo is used is known to local law enforcement and is aware of the way the photo is being used to investigate internet crimes against children.
The two began talking about life at home, and Maier told the detective posing as a girl that he planned to go to Idaho Falls.
Maier said they should meet up and go for a drive sometime. Maier said he often slept in his truck, but due to the age gap, he might get in trouble, so they would have to behave.
Through the fake account, the detective said he could come up with instructions on how to sneak out to meet Maier, who said was going to Butte, Montana, but that he’d swing back to Idaho Falls in the morning to meet up with the girl.
Maier allegedly asked if the person he thought was a teenage girl had done anything with a boy, and he spoke about nude images. The detective messaged that he wouldn’t send any, and Maier allegedly said he wasn’t asking for that, but it was OK if the girl did.
The detective said Maier sent a photo of a man in his underwear, taken in what appeared to be a hotel room. Another photo was sent to show the inside of Maier’s semi-truck, and he asked the fake girl what she was “down for.”
The fake teen said she did not want to get pregnant, and Maier allegedly replied that he had condoms. Still posing as a girl, the detective told Maier he wanted to go to Montana with him, but didn’t want to get Maier in trouble. Maier said he was a good driver, unless cops were looking for him for some reason.
The document states that for the next few days, the detective and Maier continued the conversation. It was learned that Maier was in Alberta for that weekend.
On Wednesday, Maier messaged that he was back in the United States and was heading to Idaho Falls.
Maier said he could order a taxi for the teenage girl or an Uber to meet him at a gas station near Interstate 15.
Investigators set up surveillance at the gas station before Maier arrived.
Around 7 p.m., Maier messaged that an Uber was on the way to the address the detective had sent. A law enforcement officer got in and headed to the gas station.
Before law enforcement arrived, a detective decided to detain Maier inside the gas station.
Maier was taken to the Idaho Falls Police Complex and interviewed.
During the interview, Maier told detectives he was going to meet up with a girl he had been messaging online, who was going through a lot in her life. The plan was to eat at the gas station and “wish her a Merry Christmas.”
Maier said the girl he was going to meet was 14 years old.
The detectives read Maier some of the explicit messages he had sent to the fake account, and said he would have never done that. He only sent those messages as he was in the heat of the moment.
Maier was taken to the Bonneville County Jail, where he was charged with one felony count of enticing a child through the internet.
Though Maier has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. He faces a potential punishment of up to 15 years in prison and or a fine of $10,000.