Portland man confronted by vigilantes gets 10 years for child solicitation
PORTLAND, Ind. — A Portland man confronted by members of a Muncie-based vigilante group after he tried to arrange sex with a pre-teen girl has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Wayne Lavon Lanning, 45, was sentenced Friday by Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison after pleading guilty to child solicitation, a Level 4 felony carrying up to 12 years in prison.
Lanning had been charged with the crime in April, more than a month after he had requested nude photos from a person he believed was an 11-year-old girl.
He had actually been communicating online with members of the online group Predator Catchers Muncie. He was confronted by members of that organization on Feb. 21 when he arrived at a Portland convenience store for a planned encounter with the child.
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Lanning later told a Portland police officer he was a "would-be child molester," and had intended to have sex with the girl.
His guilty plea came in September after prosecutors apparently agreed to not seek additional penalties against him for being a habitual offender.
His criminal record included earlier convictions for arson — in both Jay and Randolph counties — along with conversion, false informing, residential entry and theft.
The arson convictions stemmed from a 2002 fire that damaged a Portland family's home, and a blaze set at his own mobile home in Winchester in 2007.
His theft conviction, in 2011, came after he stole $545 from a volunteer's purse at a Portland church.
Lanning on Friday received credit for six months already spent in the Jay County jail.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Wayne Lavon Lanning gets 10 years for child solicitation
