A 62-year-old man was arrested in Johns Creek last week and charged with several crimes, including enticing a minor.
Police said Mohamed El-Saawy was talking to a 14-year-old boy through text messages and Instagram about undressing in front of each other and taking him on a trip to Miami.
“At first it was talking about normal things, like shoes and clothes and things like that, but then it got to be very strange,” the mother of the boy told Channel 2 Action News. “It’s shocking. Very, very upsetting.”
The boy may have gone to Miami if it weren’t his vigilant mother going through his messages.
The mother, whose identity Channel 2 didn’t reveal, said her son’s phone was broken so he was using hers. When he returned it, she noticed his Instagram account was open and there were messages from a man she didn’t recognize.
Police said El-Saawy sells high-end shoes online and had met the teen at a shoe convention in Gwinnett County before continuing to talk to him via social media.
“There were some comments about sexual things,” the mother told Channel 2.
The mother said she allowed the discussion to continue so she could gather more evidence to bring police. Johns Creek Police had the woman set up a meeting with El-Saawy and they recorded it. Johns Creek police arrested him near a UPS Store on Roswell Road.
“She arranges the meeting, wanting to know what his plans were, what his purpose was in this,” Johns Creek Police Captain Chris Byers told Channel 2. “Everything that happened there built the probable cause we need.”
El-Saawy has since bonded out of jail. His attorney, Holly Hughes, told Channel 2 she will wait to see the evidence before making any comments about the case. He is facing charges of: Interstate Interference With Custody, Enticing A Child For Indecent Purposes, Contributing the Deprivation of a Minor, and Contributing To Delinquency Of A Minor.
“I was relieved,” the mother told Channel 2. “I want him to be off the street. I want him to go to jail. I don’t want him to be able to do this to another child.”
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