Retired airman accused of soliciting minor

An outstanding warrant remains in effect for an Air Force officer accused of soliciting sex from a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl in an Internet chat room.

Maj. Reinaldo Canton was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of meeting a girl he met online at a mall in Layton, Utah. The “girl” was actually an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent working for an Internet sex crimes unit.

Prosecutors dropped coercion and enticement charges in May 2009 against Canton because the retired airman had a serious heart condition, according to local media reports. Defense attorneys argued a trial would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office picked the case up that June after a second medical opinion on Canton’s condition, according to Utah Assistant Attorney General Paul Amann. Canton now lives in Florida and is being charged with three misdemeanor counts of enticing a minor, Amann said.

Neither Canton nor the last attorney known to represent him could be reached for comment.

Canton worked at the Space Development and Test Wing of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

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