Everyone occasionally dials the wrong number, but rarely does that misdial lead to a child pornography bust.
A mother in Citrus Heights, Calif, was trying to send a photo of her 8-year-old daughter -- fully clothed -- to her older daughter, but hit the wrong button and wound up sending the image to 42-year-old Jason Wymer, according to federal court documents obtained by KXTV.
Feds say Wymer replied and requested more images of the child. The mother contacted the FBI.
An FBI agent responded to Wymer pretending to be the 8-year-old girl. Over the course of a few weeks, Wymer allegedly sent the undercover agent several sexually explicit messages. The FBI obtained a search warrant for the man's home and, this week, say they found thousands of child pornography files at the apartment.
The arrest comes a little over a month after the week-long "Operation Cardea" sting nabbed 50 suspected child predators in Florida. The men who were arrested had been lured to a decoy home, where they allegedly believed they were going to have sex with a minor.
In October, a similar five-day sting operation -- also in Florida -- netted 23 arrests. In this operation, sheriff's deputies noted that at least one suspect showed up with a contract for the fictitious 14-year-old girl's parents to sign, while another came with a teddy bear in tow.