Man convicted in Mahoning County child sex sting arrested again

 A Ravenna man still awaiting sentencing after being caught in an underage sex sting is now accused of traveling to the Valley hoping to have sex with someone he believed was a 12-year-old, according to authorities.

Thirty-one-year-old Andrew Wirth was booked into the Mahoning County jail Wednesday on charges of attempted rape, importuning, compelling prostitution, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, and possessing criminal tools.

According to Major Jeff Allen of the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department, a woman in Columbiana County told authorities that Wirth had contacted her, offering her money to set him up with a child to have sex.

The Mahoning County Sheriff's office had an undercover agent posing as the woman contact Wirth through social media, and set up a meeting with what he thought would be a 12-year-old child.

Allen said when Wirth showed up for the meeting, he was arrested.

Deputies say Wirth had already booked a hotel room and was carrying $230.  According to Allen, $130 was meant for the woman and $100 for the juvenile.

Wirth had been free on bond after pleading guilty on October 23 to importuning and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Those charges stemmed from an underage sex sting conducted in May by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force that is part of Attorney General Yost's Ohio Organized Crime Investigations and the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Fourteen men, including Wirth, were indicted by a Mahoning County Grand Jury in June following that investigation.

Wirth, who was scheduled to be sentenced in the earlier case on December 3, now sits in the county jail, awaiting arraignment on the new charges.

Deputies confiscated a hotel key card, weapons, and $230 during Wirth's arrest  

 Major Allen would not disclose the location of the arrest or if Wirth believed he was meeting a male or female child.