Dalton police arrested a Rossville man Thursday after he tried to meet two 14 year old girls for sex, according to a police news release.
Derrick Ethan Strong, 48, did not realize he was talking to an undercover Dalton officer online when he tried to set up the meeting, the release said.
The investigation began Wednesday when police got a complaint that Strong was soliciting underage girls at the Stay Lodge at 1116 Willowdale Road.
Detectives learned that Strong had lived at the lodge for at least eight months. The complainant reported Strong had given at least one teenage girl a business card with his contact information hand-written on it.
Investigators at first couldn't find Strong, but then he began a sexually explicit conversation online Thursday with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl. That person actually was a detective.
Strong arranged to meet the supposed girl and her 14-year-old friend at the Park Canyon Apartments complex on College Drive. When Strong arrived he was taken into custody by Dalton detectives without incident.
Strong was charged with two counts of attempted child molestation and two counts of soliciting a minor for indecent purposes.