Sting prompts search for LV child sex victims

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

Police in three states are investigating whether a British man arrested in Mesa, Ariz., may have molested children in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Robin Sprigg, 52, of the United Kingdom, remains jailed today on $500,000 bail charged with paying an undercover police officer $500 Monday to arrange for him to have sex with and photograph a 9-year-old girl, Mesa Police said.

As part of the deal, the undercover officer was to provide the man with the sexual-enhancement supplement Viagra, other sexual aids and a hotel room key, Mesa Police Officer Mark Reyes. said.

Sprigg was arrested en route to the hotel room after the money was exchanged. He was carrying a pink dress, a pink T-shirt and teddy bears, Reyes said.

Sprigg, who has been in the United States for three weeks, had planned to return to England today, police said. Instead he was in Justice Court in Arizona Tuesday, where bail was set. Sprigg faces an April 24 preliminary hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court in Mesa.

A spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney, which prosecutes felony cases, said the Sprigg case has been submitted to the office but that specific criminal charges have not yet been determined.

Sprigg faces potential charges of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

Reyes said Sprigg told police that he had been in the other two cities during his stay in the United States but he did not provide specific dates as to when he may have been in Las Vegas.

"He just intimated to the undercover officers that he had sexual encounters with children" in Las Vegas and San Francisco, Reyes said.

"No victims have come forward" so far, Reyes said.

"We have contacted police in Las Vegas and San Francisco and informed them about the incident and they are trying to determine" whether any children were molested by Spriggs in those cities before he got to Mesa, Reyes said.

A spokesman in the Metro Police Sexual Assault unit could not be reached for comment this morning.

Reyes said Mesa Police set up the sting operation after an informant told police that a man was seeking to have sex with children, Reyes said.