Authorities say online sting leads to arrest of Marine

A Marine Corps staff sergeant from Waynesville has been charged with attempted enticement of a child and two counts of sexual misconduct after an Internet sting conducted by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department.

Norman K. Klinger, 38, has been charged in Jasper County Circuit Court based on weeks of online correspondence with a Jasper County sheriff’s detective who Klinger believed to be a 13-year-old girl, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Department. Klinger was arrested at his post by military authorities at Fort Leonard Wood.

Jasper County authorities allege that Klinger had been corresponding with the detective’s online decoy from the end of April until about the middle of June, and that several of the online chats were “sexual in content,” according to the release.

Klinger allegedly sent photos of his exposed body to the detective, and other sexually explicit photos and instructions to adult-porn Web sites.

Klinger could face additional charges pending further investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Department.