Bend registered sex offender arrested in online luring case; ‘teen girl’ was detective

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 27-year-old Bend man, a registered high-risk sex offender, was arrested Tuesday at a supermarket parking lot, accused of trying to meet and have sex with a “teen girl” he met online, who officers said actually was a police detective.

Detectives on Tuesday identified Roger Clint Lee Vanwormer as someone trying to contact a person on a special media app who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, Lt. Juli McConkey said.

During the online conversation, Vanwormer allegedly had a conversation that was sexual in nature and sent explicit photos to the “teen,” whom he agreed to meet and engage in sexual intercourse with, the lieutenant said.

Bend detectives and officers, assisted by Deschutes County Parole and Probation officers, took Vanwormer into custody without incident around 1 p.m. at a Northeast Third Street supermarket parking lot, McConkey said.

Vanwormer is on county parole supervision as “a dangerous, high-risk Level III sex offender,” McConkey said in a news release.

Vanwormer was taken to the county jail and booked on charges of first-degree online sexual corruption of a minor, luring a minor and attempted unlawful contact with a child. He was held without bail on a parole violation.