Published: Nov 04, 2009 02:00 AM
Modified: Nov 04, 2009 05:50 AM
RALEIGH -
The former owner of an Apex recreation center was sentenced to weekends in jail and put on probation for five years after pleading guilty last week to taking indecent liberties with a child and soliciting a child by computer.Richard James Ahmed of 210 Michelangelo Way in Cary was charged last year after a sting operation. A Raleigh police detective posed as a minor, according to indictments. Police accused Ahmed of arranging a meeting at Crabtree Valley Mall with a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl. The meeting did not occur. But the two again made plans to meet, and Ahmed sent her a link to an adult pornography Web site, according to a search warrant. Ahmed later arrived at Laurel Hills Park on Edwards Mill Road, where police approached him.
Ahmed was a co-owner of Dream Sports Center on Investment Boulevard in Apex, a place with indoor soccer fields, roller hockey rinks and other sports facilities.
A judge last week accepted a guilty plea from Ahmed and sentenced him to 60 months of supervised probation and five weekends in jail. He must register as a sex offender and cannot have contact with a child younger than 16 unless an adult is present.
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