WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT: Man Posted Online Ad Seeking Partner in Sexual Assault of 11yr. Old Female Relative

CLAYTON • The fact that a man would solicit someone online to sexually assault an 11-year-old relative didn’t shock St. Louis County police detectives accustomed to investigating Internet predators.

But the fact that he actually showed up last week with the girl to meet a woman he thought was willing to sexually assault the girl did shock them, said St. Louis County Detective Mike Slaughter.

“It’s just a lot of talk for most of these guys, but this guy actually brought (the girl) to the scene to go ahead with the next step of enacting it,” said Slaughter, who handcuffed Anthony Brinkman, 32, of Cuba, Mo., at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in south St. Louis County on Friday. “If we hadn’t gotten involved and someone bad had gotten in touch with him, something bad would have happened to that little girl.”

St. Louis County prosecutors charged Brinkman, of the 100 block of East Street in Cuba, on Saturday with one count of attempted statutory sodomy. His bail has been set at $100,000, cash only.

Brinkman caught the attention of investigators after someone who saw Brinkman’s online ad clicked a “report abuse” feature, which then triggered a tip to the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. An undercover officer posing as a 27-year-old woman then responded to Brinkman. He told her he wanted the woman to be his girlfriend as well as participate with him in sexually assaulting the child with sex toys, Slaughter said. He also said he wanted her to help find a boyfriend for the child, Slaughter said.

Read more: stltoday.com