NORTH ANDOVER — Jonathan Pickering thought he was going to meet a 13-year-old boy he contacted through the Craigslist Internet site. Instead, he was greeted by a burly police officer, police said.
Pickering, 45, of 437 Waverley Road, was arrested about noon yesterday at McDonald's on Chickering Road, where he had gone to meet the boy he thought he had been chatting with online for about a month, police said.
Pickering was charged with enticement of a child. Detective Lt. Paul Gallagher said Detective Jay Staude discovered the Craigslist posting about a month ago during a routine check of the Web Site.
Staude responded to the posting posing as a 13-year-old boy, setting off a monthlong series of Internet communications, which came to an end with Pickering's arrest.
"He was surprised when he was arrested," Gallagher said.
Inspector Daniel Cronin said Pickering had lived in town for about a year, and had moved here from Lynn.
He was staying with an aunt and a cousin in the Waverley Road condominium.
Cronin, Staude, and Detective Sean Daley served a search warrant at the condominium late yesterday afternoon and seized computer equipment, papers and other property.
"We don't know what we'll find on it," Cronin said of the computer equipment.
Police said Pickering committed a similar offense in New Jersey, and they had contacted authorities there, but no other information was available on that offense late yesterday.
Pickering was being held on $50,000 cash bail, Gallagher.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court.
Child enticement is a felony and, if convicted, Pickering could face up to five years in prison.
