Man, 62, accused of sex offenses with 14-year-old girl, Merced police say

A 62-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl from Merced, according to police.

Merced police said Robert Grover Dingman of Modesto met the juvenile after communicating with her on social media websites.

Detective Raquel Rios learned during her investigation the suspect made arrangements to meet the girl in Merced and took her to a motel for sex.

Police said in press release that Dingman engaged in various sexual acts with the underage girl on several occasions and the two carried on the relationship for more than a year.

Dingman provided the female juvenile with alcohol and marijuana, according to the release. Police said he’s suspected of engaging in sex acts with the minor over 30 times over the course of a year.

Rios was able to arrange a meeting between Dingman and the juvenile on Saturday, where the two were supposed to meet up for sex. When Dingman arrived in Merced, he was met by police detectives who took him into custody without incident.

Detectives served a search warrant on Dingman’s Modesto home, where they seized his computer and other alleged evidence.

Some of the evidence led detectives to believe there may be other juvenile victims in the Stanislaus County area who’ve allegedly been in contact with Dingman over social media sites like Facebook and Tumblr, as well as others, according to the release.

Dingman was booked into the Merced County Jail on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, lewd acts with a minor who is more than 10 years his junior, penetration with a foreign object, sodomy and luring a minor with the intent to commit sex offenses. He’s being held in lieu of $355,000 bail.

Police are asking anyone with information about the alleged crimes to call Merced police detectives at (209) 385-4702 or the department’s automated tipline at (209) 385-4725. Citizens can text a tip to TIP411 (847411) and using “comvip” as the first word in the text message.

This story was originally published January 19, 2015 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Man, 62, accused of sex offenses with 14-year-old girl, Merced police say."