A 47-year-old Spruce Grove man faces multiple child exploitation charges after allegedly travelling to Calgary to have sex with a minor, only to discover he had been communicating with an undercover police investigator.Franklin Lopez was arrested October 2 by Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, with assistance from the Calgary Police Service.Police say Lopez believed he had arranged to meet a youth for sex after engaging in sexually explicit online conversations. However, the person he had been communicating with was an undercover ICE investigator.Investigators began communicating with Lopez in August 2026 through social media before the conversations moved to private messaging applications.During the exchanges, Lopez allegedly made sexual advances despite being informed he was communicating with a minor.Police allege he eventually arranged to meet the youth for sex and even offered to bring a morning-after pill.“Once the suspect moved the conversation from social media to private messaging, it quickly became sexually explicit, even despite the suspect being alerted that he was chatting with a youth,” said ICE Staff Sgt. Gordon MacDonald.“Trying to steer users towards private messaging applications is a tactic often employed to evade built-in platform securities of mainstream social media services.”Lopez has been charged with making arrangements or an agreement to commit sexual offences against a child, making child sexual abuse and exploitation material, invitation to sexual touching and luring a child.He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court October 28..ALERT confirmed no child was harmed during the undercover operation but investigators are concerned Lopez may have targeted other potential victims.Police have seized electronic devices belonging to Lopez and are conducting a forensic examination to determine whether additional offences may have occurred.Investigators are also exploring the possibility that other children may have been victimized.Anyone with information about Lopez or other suspected child exploitation offences is encouraged to contact local police or submit a report through cybertip.ca.ALERT is funded by the Alberta government and brings together specialized law enforcement resources from across the province to investigate serious and organized crime, including internet child exploitation.
