The Dalton Police Department arrested a Rossville man on Thursday after he tried to meet two 14-year-old girls for sex. 48-year-old Derrick Ethan Strong did not realize he was talking to an undercover Dalton officer online when he tried to set up the meeting.
The investigation into Strong began on Aug. 31, when Dalton detectives received a complaint that Strong was soliciting underage girls at the Stay Lodge at 1116 Willowdale Road. Detectives learned that Strong had been staying in a room at the Stay Lodge for at least the last eight months. The complainant reported that Strong had given at least one teenage girl a business card with his contact information hand-written on it. Investigators attempted to locate Strong for an interview later in the day on Aug. 31, but were unable to locate him.
On Sept. 1, while investigators were still trying to locate Strong, he initiated a conversation with an undercover Dalton detective that Strong believed to be a 14-year-old girl. During the course of the sexually explicit online conversation, Strong arranged a meeting with what he believed to be the 14-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend. Strong agreed to meet the girls at the Park Canyon Apartments complex on College Drive. When Strong arrived he was taken into custody by Dalton detectives without incident.
Strong was charged with two counts of attempted child molestation and two counts of soliciting a minor for indecent purposes.