A Westmoreland County man was found guilty Tuesday, March 7, of soliciting a minor female, who was an adult undercover agent for the state Attorney General’s Office, for sex in 2021 in Cranberry Township.

A Butler County Common Pleas Court jury found Mark Garris, 47, of Derry, guilty of felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility and attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old.

The jury of five women and seven men deliberated for a little more than an hour before rendering a verdict at 4 p.m. The trial started Monday.

Judge Kelley Streib allowed Garris to remain free on $10,000 unsecured bail until his sentencing hearing, which was not scheduled.

The Attorney General’s Office arrested Garris after he exchanged text messages with the fictitious girl beginning Oct. 22 and then traveled to Butler County to meet her Nov. 4.

Defense attorney Al Lindsay said he will file an appeal based on a ruling by Streib that did not allow the jury to consider whether the Attorney General’s Office entrapped Garris.

Lindsay argued that Garris was entrapped after he responded to a profile of a 19-year-old female on an adult dating app. After exchanging a few messages with the female, the adult agent posing as the fictitious girl said she was 15 years old.

In his closing argument, Lindsay questioned the undercover tactics used by the agent in the investigation that led to Garris’ arrest.

Lindsay said the agent testified that he was looking for online predators who target minors, but they posted a profile of a 19-year-old on an adult dating site.

In the messages Garris exchanged with the undercover agent, Lindsay said Garris told the agent he was interested in younger women as long as they are of the legal age to consent to sex.

Lindsay contended that the agents violated their own protocol by not terminating their communication with Garris after he said was interested in younger, but legally aged women.

He asked jury members whether they can believe without a reasonable doubt that Garris thought the person he was communicating with was 15.

He also asked the jury to consider whether Garris would have traveled to meet the fictitious girl without deception and enticement from the undercover agent.

“Is this a manufactured crime or a real crime?” Lindsay said.

Deputy Attorney General Angela Raver said the undercover agent told Garris he was a 15-year-old girl after exchanging just a few messages with him, and Garris initiated contact and communicated with the fictitious girl for two weeks after being told she was 15.

She said Garris sent messages about sex and was grooming the fictitious girl for a sexual encounter.

Garris asked the fictitious girl about her parents and school and said he didn’t want to get her in trouble with her parents, Raver said.

In an interview with agents after he was arrested Nov. 4 in a dental office parking lot in Cranberry Township where he and the fictitious girl agreed to meet, Garris never said he thought he was there to meet a 19-year-old, Raver said.

She noted that Garris drove for an hour from his home to the meeting place, and he told the agents that he parked in a nearby parking lot for 30 to 45 minutes thinking about whether he should proceed to the meeting. He could have left, but decided to go to the meeting, she said.

“He thought at every turn she was a 15-year-old,” Raver said.

Raver also said the undercover agent had to list an adult age on the dating app profile because the app did not allow minors. She said the agent used that tactic because minors lie about their age to access dating sites, but do not realize that predators use those sites.

Streib ordered Garris to comply with conditions while on bail. She ordered him to have no contact with anyone under 18 years old and not to access the internet through any means. She placed him on pretrial supervision with the adult probation office, ordered a presentence investigation, and said he will undergo a sexually violent predator evaluation. Streib said she would schedule sentencing after the investigation and evaluation are complete.