Chicago Paramedic Accused of Facebook Sex Talk With 11-Year-Old Girl

May 04--A veteran Chicago Fire Department paramedic was charged with engaging in sexually explicit Facebook conversations with an 11-year-old girl, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

Mark Scanlon, 42, a nine-year veteran of the department, was charged with indecent solicitation of a minor and child exploitation. Judge Donald Panarese Jr. set bail at $50,000.

According to prosecutors, Scanlon communicated with the victim through Facebook for nine months beginning in January 2011.

In that time, he sent her numerous messages discussing sexual acts and asked her to meet him for sex at least once, prosecutors said.

The girl was 10 when the contact began, prosecutors said.

The victim told her brother about the messages last October, and the family notified the police.

Investigators recovered messages from the Facebook accounts of both Scanlon and the girl as well as information from Scanlon's cell phone and computer, prosecutors said.

Scanlon was hired in November 2003 and was a paramedic in charge of an ambulance at a downtown fire station, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. He was placed on paid leave when the department learned of the investigation in October.

Scanlon turned himself in to Chicago police voluntarily after he was charged on Thursday.

jmeisner@tribune.com

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