'Child's Play' actor Ed Gale admits soliciting child for sex in sting operation

"Child's Play" actor Ed Gale admitted to Creep Catchers Unit that he was trying to meet a teenage boy for sex and he had engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with who he thought was a boy.

The 59-year-old actor, who starred in the 1988 horror film “Child’s Play” and several follow-ups, was confronted last Friday by the San Diego-based child advocacy group, which ran a sting operation at Gale's Hollywood apartment and released video from the encounter.

The founder of the CC Unit, who goes by the name Ghost, met with Gale under the pretense that he was the 14-year-old boy Gale believed he had been conversing with. Upon meeting at Gale's apartment, Ghost presented Gale with printouts of the online conversations the actor allegedly had through one of CC Units' decoy accounts and asked Gale whether he had tried to solicit child pornography.

“I tried to get him … a naked picture from him, yes,” Gale said, later describing the explicit conversations as "a whole hook-up in the making."

The “Howard the Duck” and “Spaceballs" actor also said that he thinks he had spoken with 10 other possible victims.

"Yes, I’m admitting I know it was wrong and it was illegal,” Gale said to Ghost. “I’m admitting that and I’m sorry.”

When reached Friday by The Times, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said there is an active investigation relating to Gale but declined to provide further information.

According to the LAPD incident report obtained by LA Weekly, Gale attempted to “communicate with a minor, with intent to commit sex," and investigators plan to follow up on the incident. Two LAPD detectives are seen entering Gale’s apartment in the video, and CC Unit said law enforcement confiscated electronic devices but did not take Gale into custody because of the actor's health.

Ghost sat for an interview Wednesday with Fox 11 News, whose reporter visited Gale's apartment for an interview but the actor did not answer the door.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.