The attorney representing a Westmoreland County man charged with using a dating app to arrange a meeting with a fictitious 15-year-old girl in 2021 in Cranberry Township told the jury Monday that his client was entrapped.

Mark Garris, 47, of Derry, is facing felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old and a related count of conspiracy.

The state attorney general’s office filed the charges after agents said Garris arrived at the arranged meeting place, a dental office parking lot, on Nov. 4 to meet the girl, who was an undercover special agent, after they began exchanging text messages in late October.

His trial began Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

In his opening statement Garris’ attorney, Al Lindsay of Butler, said that he will attempt to prove the tactics used in the case created a substantial risk for a person, who would not otherwise commit a crime, to commit a crime.

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