I would say driving 300 miles to meet someone off the internet is evidence of an attempt to establish a relationship with the internet pen pal...

Now whether that intent was sexual in nature would need to be proven as well. (Was the meeting at or near a hotel and were there intent of a sexual nature expressed in the internet correspondances?) And then there would need to be some proof that the individual knew or believed he was entering said sexual relationship with a minor.

Should be easy to convict under the circumstances if the E-mail and other recorded correspondances showed that the defendent knew or should have known what he was doing was criminal and that he was doing it with a minor...

For example, one e-mail saying: "I'm a 15 year old girl..." and the guy would be in for some serious legal trouble.

Any indication that someone is underage should send up a warning flag for any responsible individual that you are crossing the line of legality. Such "notice" would be enough for any reasonably responsible adult to break-off the internet relationship immediatly...Let alone allow or encourage the relationship to progress further toward one of sexual intimacy.

Note: I would think it would be impossible to get a conviction unless the law enforcement officils involved clearly gave such notice...If they never claimed to be underage, then defendant could easily argue: "underage who?" All I wanted was sex...there were no claims of anyone being underaged...If I thought I was talking to an underage person I would have broke off the relationship immediatly...In otherwords, and correctly so, the defendant's defense could be: No underage notice, No underage victim, No evidence of intent, No crime committed...

But all that changes the second the officers assumed the role of an underage internet poster by giving "notice" that they were an underage individual.

It would be just like if they gave notice that they had illegal guns, drugs, or illegal anything else for sale...If they offered it, and you agreed to buy it...And then you were stupid enough to show up at a designated meeting point with a roll of $100 bills...Then you're pretty much going down for the crime.

Scott