A visiting MSU research associate from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center faces a court hearing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Hamtramck 31st District Court and possible deportation after allegedly planning a sexual meeting online with whom he believed was a teenage girl, according to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
Iqbal Munir, a citizen of Pakistan in the United States on a work visa, was chatting with a Wayne County police deputy posing as a 14-year-old girl, said Wayne County Officer John Roach. Munir, 39, allegedly drove from East Lansing to an unidentified location in Wayne County to meet the nonexistent girl on June 6.
He was charged with child sexually abusive activity and illegal use of the Internet, according to Wayne County Officer John Roach. Munir was driving by himself at the time of the arrest, Roach said.
“In terms of whether or not he implicated himself, that I don’t know,” Roach said.
Hand-drawn maps were in Munir’s car to the supposed location of the teenage girl, Roach said.
Munir said the online conversation was for fun and was not meant to be taken as a criminal offense.
“I hope and believe the judge will understand my situation,” Munir said. “We hope for the best.”
The screen name he used was “honeyguy_jp,” according to Roach.
Munir’s family paid a $5,000 bond to release him from the Wayne County Jail, he said. He returned home on Sunday.
The evening Munir was arrested, he had already planned on being in the area of the sexual meeting for a potluck at a community center, he said.
“Me and my family were planning to visit the Detroit area,” Munir said. “And I thought, let’s see if it’s really a girl or boy, just for fun.”
His wife was already at the potluck, Munir said, when he traveled to the area of the planned encounter.
“It was just bad luck, really,” he said.
Munir said that in his home, family and friends chat online just for entertainment.
“We didn’t know it was a girl or boy or underage,” Munir said. “We were just doing this for fun.”
This is the first time Munir has been accused of any crime, he said, and hopes to maintain his clean record.
“I have a clear history and a clean record everywhere,” Munir said.
Munir planned to meet with his lawyer for the first time this morning to enter a not guilty plea, he said.
“I didn’t know it is a crime chatting with somebody on the Internet,” Munir said. “If I knew that, I would never have done this.”
Munir said that regardless of age, he would not have participated in a sexual encounter with the girl.
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“It was never brought in my mind to do negative things like sex with any girl, underage or of age,” Munir said.
Munir’s wife and four children support his case, he said.
When it comes to the severity of the crime, Munir said he now understands the retributions that can come with online chatting.
“I will never repeat this in my life anywhere in the world,” Munir said. “Now I’ve got it.”
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