Police: Aurora man caught in sex sting

An Aurora man faces charges of traveling to meet a minor and indecent solicitation of a child after being apprehended in Tinley Park, authorities said Thursday.

Police said Michael Zimmerman, 27, had been communicating online with what he thought was a girl between the ages of 12 and 16 and planned to meet with her for a sexual encounter. When he arrived to meet the girl, he was greeted instead by police, Tinley Park Cmdr. Pat McCain said.

McCain said police conduct such investigations intermittently by engaging possible predators online. If the suspects come to the village, they are arrested.

“The fact that he comes here and you have all the chats to support why he was here and what he was here for, it’s enough to take him into custody,” McCain said.

Zimmerman was ordered held on $50,000 bail in Will County jail.

“We want to protect the children and we don’t want people coming here to perform illegal and immoral acts with our children,” McCain said. “So we’re out there proactively trying to protect our children from these kinds of people.”