Prosecutors: Long Island Tutor, 59, Sought Sex With 13-Year-Old Girl

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island home-school tutor was arrested by federal authorities after he tried to meet a 13-year-old for sex, prosecutors said.

Jeffrey Weber, 59, of Seaford, allegedly responded to an ad posted on Craigslist that read, "I'm a younger girl looking for an older guy."

According to a federal complaint, he began exchanging sexually-explicit text messages and emails with an undercover NYPD detective posing as a 13-year-old girl.

Weber was taken into custody when he arrived at a Lower Manhattan diner on Valentine's Day morning where he was planning to meet the girl and then go elsewhere to have sex, the complaint alleges.

"As alleged, Jeffrey Weber, a home-school tutor who has constant interaction with children, made arrangements through text messaging and emails to meet with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said. "Thankfully he was corresponding with an undercover law enforcement officer and not a young girl, but his alleged intentions are no less insidious."

Weber is charged with attempted enticement and faces a possible life sentence.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Weber, who teaches in the homes of at-risk youths, may have other victims.

Anyone with information in regards to this is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.