A 33-year-old woman from San Francisco has been arrested after meeting a 14-year-old boy online and then flying across the country, renting an Airbnb for a month, and sending Uber rides to pick him up, according to the police.
Stephanie Sin was arrested by Novi Police on Sunday. Online court records showed she was booked into the Oakland County jail Monday night on charges of sex offense and using a computer in commission of a crime.
Sin Had Been Talking to the Boy for a Year, Exchanged Sexually Explicit Messages
According to Novi Police, Sin met the boy on an app over a year ago when he was 14. The conversation then moved from the app to texts and got progressively more explicit, police said.
This past weekend, police said she bought a plane ticket and rented and Airbnb in Royal Oak, Michigan, for a month with intentions of meeting the now 15-year-old in person. Police said she would then send Uber rides to the boy's house to pick him up to bring him to her.
Police said this spooked the boy and he told his parents what happened. Novi Police were then contacted and they immediately moved to arrest her. "It started as them talking casually and then it advanced to more sexually explicit talk," Novi police Lt. Jason Meier told Fox 2.
Meier Urges Parents to be More Aware of Children's Online Activity
"This case is a stark reminder of how important it is for parents to be aware of their children's online activity," Meier added
"It may be exciting, but it's very dangerous, and we would encourage anyone to tell someone," he said. "Tell your parents, tell your teacher, tell the police."
Sin and the teen never had any physical contact, all because he spoke up. "I give him all the credit in the world for telling someone and getting a predator off the streets," Meier said.
She's due in court on April 20 and is being held on a $100,000 cash bond. A probable cause conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 20.
