Baltimore Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Solicitation of a Minor

July 29, 2009

A 32-year-old Baltimore man pleaded guilty to sexual solicitation of a minor in Howard County Circuit Court this morning. That minor turned out to be a Maryland State Police corporal. The defendant--Joseph Anthony Catlin, 32, of the 200 block of S. Collington Avenue, entered the plea before Judge Louis A. Becker, III.

Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Claude de Vastey-Jones told the court that the state police investigator used the popular marketplace website, Craigslist to create a posting titled “girls just want to have fun.” Catlin responded under the online screen name “deccat.” Thus began a series of e-mail and instant messenger exchanges in December 2008. During the course of the exchanges, the trooper, using the screen name “kimmy,” advised “deccat” that “she” was 13 years of age as “deccat’s” messages became more and more sexually explicit.

By the end of the month, “deccat” and “kimmy” agreed to meet at a Columbia Starbucks coffee shop. When “deccat” (Joseph Catlin) arrived at the Starbucks on December 30, 2008, he was placed under arrest.

Catlin will be sentenced on November 6. Under State sentencing guidelines, he faces one-to-five years in prison.