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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; A Philadelphia man who thought he was contacting underage girls for sex via Instagram was really talking to a Kingston detective and an area father, authorities say.</p><p>Vincent Long, 54, was arrested Monday night in Philadelphia and is now facing two felony charges.</p><p>According to a criminal complaint:</p><p>An investigation began in early September when a father alerted police to an Instagram user &#8212; &#8220;jamesroberts7356&#8221; &#8212; who had sent his 12-year-old daughter a message stating &#8220;Hi Beautiful.&#8221; The user also sent similar messages to the father&#8217;s 15-year-old niece.</p><p>The father created a fake Instagram account, posing as a 15-year-old girl. He told officers he followed &#8220;jamesroberts7356,&#8221; and the user controlling the account began communicating with the father, sending sexually explicit messages explaining in graphic detail what he would do to the girl he thought he was speaking to.</p><p>Soon, the father transferred the account to Kingston Detective Stephen Gibson, who continued communications with the user alleged to be Long. The user asked if the girl was OK with the age difference between them, and began suggesting he come to the Wilkes-Barre area to carry out sex acts with the girl.</p><p>Det. Gibson made a second fake Instagram account, this one purportedly a 13-year-old friend of the first. Long asked this second girl to send him pictures of her and communicated with her in a graphic nature. Long also told the supposed teens to delete messages so they wouldn&#8217;t &#8220;get in trouble.&#8221;</p><p>Long was identified as a suspect using facial recognition software on images posted on a Facebook account linked with the &#8220;jamesroberts7356&#8221; account. In addition, records provided by Instagram contained both an email address and IP address linked to him.</p><p>Long is now charged with sexual communication with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility.</p><p>He was arraigned in the Hazleton area by on-duty District Judge James Dixon, who set bail at $100,000. In lieu of that amount, Long was remanded to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.</p><p>He has a preliminary hearing set for Nov. 29.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Cops: Philadelphia man attempted to contact girls for sex via Instagram