Female Bedford deputy posed as girl in chat room, on phone

Man charged with attempting to solicit 13-year-old on Internet

When authorities arrested the Charlotte, N.C. man, they found a knife and a baseball bat in his vehicle.

By S.D. Harrington, The Roanoke Times

BEDFORD -- A Charlotte, N.C., man with the Internet screen name "Dr. Evil" was arrested Friday in Bedford County on charges that he tried to arrange a sexual encounter over the Internet with an undercover deputy who posed as a 13-year-old girl.

   Raymond P. Canupp, 47, a former bus mechanic for the city of Charlotte, was charged with one count of soliciting to commit a felony and two counts of attempted indecent liberties with a minor.  He is being held in the Bedford County jail.

   Since January, a female member of the Sheriff's Office high-tech crimes unit had been talking to Canupp through an Internet chat room and by telephone, said Sheriff Mike Brown.

   "Conversations became quite explicit on his end on what he wanted to do to the 13-year-old and what he expected to do when he got up with her," Brown said.  Canupp told the undercover deputy that he would drive from Charlotte to Bedford County to meet her, but he never showed up.

   On friday, Brown said Canupp called the deputy and said he was in Lynchburg.  He arranged to meet her on a roadside in the eastern end of Bedford County.  Sheriff's investigators and FBI agents staked out the meeting place while the undercover deputy continued to pose as the teen-age girl.  "He motioned for her to come and get in his car," Brown said.  The awaiting officers then arrested him.

   Brown said investigators found a knife and a baseball bat with duct tape around the handle in the back of his pickup.

   Charlotte police are searching Canupp's home.  Brown said additional charges may be filed.

   Canupp could be tried in either state of federal court.  Brown said the department probably will seek the court that offers the toughest penalty.

   Since February 1998, the Sheriff's Office has conducted undercover investigations over the Internet.  Several men across the country have been charged with crimes ranging from transmitting child pornography to soliciting sex from minors.  The Sheriff's Office won a $200,000 federal grant last summer to expand the investigations.