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The home of Const. Randann Sargent, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to lure a minor over the internet. (CBC)A Calgary police officer has pleaded guilty to luring a minor over the internet, but his lawyer says he shouldn't go to jail because his client was entrapped.
Const. Randann Sargent was charged last June with using a computer to communicate with a person he believed to be a minor for the purpose of committing an offence.
Court heard Tuesday that Sargent admits to using a chat service to try to persuade who he thought was a 17-year-old girl to send pictures of herself posing in her underwear.
The person he was communicating with was actually a police officer.
Sargent's lawyer Willie deWit said the undercover officer repeatedly contacted Sargent online. DeWit presented online chat records that showed Sargent stated he was not interested because the girl was under 18.
DeWit said the repeated propositions amounted to entrapment and the charge should be stayed, meaning Sargent would not go to jail.
At the time, Sargent was using social networking sites to find women for casual sex, but court heard several examples where he turned down girls under 18 who responded to his messages.
Provincial court Judge J. D. Holmes is hearing arguments on that issue from both the defence and Crown lawyers until Wednesday.
Sargent, who was 26 at the time of his offence, was suspended without pay last September pending the outcome of the case.
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