PORTLAND, Ore. - Police say a 12-year-old girl with a profile on the popular Web site MySpace.com has been instrumental in apprehending a man who solicited her for sexual reasons.

Police say Jeramie Eidem, 26, was well aware that the girl was only 12 years old when he arranged to meet her in Vancouver.

But Eidem only met sheriffs deputies at the arranged time and place, and is now under arrest on attempted rape charges.

Officers also seized his home computer for evidence.

Investigators say the girl informed her parents that she had been solicited online through her MySpace page, and her parents in turn contacted Washington authorities.

The girl and her parents worked with deputies to arrange the meeting and make the arrest.

Jeff Green, a detective with Clackamas County's Child Abuse Team, says MySpace.com and other online sites where teens gather are also popular with pedophiles and child predators.

The girl who assisted police is actually younger than MySpace.com regulations allow to have a page on the site. The minimum age is listed as 14 and users need to have parental permission to sign up.

Police say that despite the girl being younger than regulations stipulate, she did the right thing by informing her parents she had been contacted by Eidem.

- By Debora Knapp
and KATU.com Web Staff
Originally posted @ Katu.com