Arizona School Teacher Tried To Lure Boy For Sex, Engaged In Explicit Conversations With Several Teens

An Arizona school teacher was arrested Tuesday for trying to lure a teen boy for sex.

The probable cause for arrest statement stated that the accused, identified as 43-year-old Kenneth Allen Echols, was a teacher at Lone Mountain Elementary School. The accused chatted with an undercover investigator on Grindr. The investigator was posing as a 14-year-old boy on the app. While chatting, Echols sent the investigator his photo following which he was identified.

Despite knowing that the person he was chatting with was 14 years old, the man engaged in explicit online conversations with him. He went on to invite the teen home and also offered “to show the victim 'what to do' when they meet up." They decided to meet at a Scottsdale park on Tuesday where he was taken into custody.

"On multiple opportunities, Echols continued to engage in sexually explicit conversations, while knowing the undercover was a 14-year-old child,” the statement said, adding that during interrogation, the accused told the officers that he thought the undercover investigator was 18 years old. He also told the officer that he was wanted to take him to dinner.

"Echols ultimately admitted that it was 'inappropriate' for an adult man his age to be conversing with a child online in a sexually explicit manner and said he knew that it was illegal. Echols advised this arrest was a 'good warning' and that he would delete his account,” the statement said.

A search of the accused’s phone revealed that he engaged in explicit conversation with several other teenage boys.

"At least two of them advised Echols he was not yet 18 and Echols continued to the conversation, even asking for a sexually explicit photo on one,” the statement read.