Internet sting: Sandston man pleads guilty to soliciting 13-year-old

A Sandston man today became the fourth person convicted in a year-old Louisa County effort to corral sexual solicitation of minors.

Julian Martin, 54, pleaded guilty in Louisa Circuit Court to soliciting a 13-year-old girl and faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced April 22.

Martin, who has been in jail since his arrest July 2, arrived at a Louisa business with alcohol to meet someone he thought was a 13-year-old for a date.

In reality, he'd been talking online with an undercover Louisa investigator and was shown a picture of a detective when she was 13, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Russell E. "Rusty" McGuire said.

The Louisa effort has resulted in four convictions; four other cases are pending. All of the men charged to date lived outside the county.

In January last year, the Internet sting resulted in the arrest and conviction of Howard University soccer coach Joseph Okoh, for whom a jury has recommended a 14-year sentence.

Martin responded to the apparent 13-year-old on an AOL chatroom web site centered on the Richmond area. He asked if she became "frisky" when she drank and sent her a nude picture of himself and of his truck. -- Bill McKelway