AUSTINTOWN — A man accused of raping an adolescent girl is due in court today after he was arrested in an online sting operation conducted by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force.

Ke’Monie L Colpetro, was arrested at a site along Meridian Road after Austintown police and the task force engaged him in an online exchange, during which he allegedly solicited them for sexual activity, believing them to be between the ages of 13 and 16, according to the charging document filed through Mahoning County Austintown Court.

Colpetro, 24, of Compass West Apartments in Austintown, made an initial appearance Monday on felony charges of attempted unlawful sexual contact with a minor and soliciting sexual contact with a minor.

Austintown Court Judge Scott Hunter imposed a $9,000 cash or surety bond and set a preliminary hearing for Thursday.

It is unclear if police and the task force targeted Colpetro specifically or if he was included in a larger sting operation. However, an Austintown police report from January shows that police spoke with a social worker at a local hospital on Jan. 19 about a girl who arrived at the emergency room with her mother.

The mother told the social worker that her daughter’s counselor at Liberty schools called her on Jan. 18 to notify her that the girl reported she was sexual abused by Coleptro, which had been ongoing for more than a year, since the girl was 10 years old

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