PEQUOT LAKES, Minn. -- A 44-year-old Wadena man who thought he would spend New Year's Eve having sex with a 13-year-old Jenkins girl now faces a felony for soliciting a child.
The Pequot Lakes Police Department arrested David Lee Hendershot, 44, at about 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve outside the SuperAmerica, a press release from Police Chief Eric Klang stated. The Wadena man, who had recently resided in Jenkins, arrived at the gas station with alleged intentions of taking a juvenile home with him for the weekend after more than a week of exchanging explicitly sexual text messages with an undercover officer.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Crow Wing County Attorney's Office, Hendershot initially sent text messages to a former neighbor in Jenkins, stating he wished to have sex with the adult woman and her 13-year-old daughter. Hendershot allegedly asked for the daughter's phone number to exchange messages with her as well. On Dec. 22, the woman reported Hendershot's statements to police, who asked the woman to provide him a false phone number he believed was her daughter's. The phone number instead connected Hendershot with an undercover officer.
