A federal affidavit says Christopher Mertens drove from the Chicago area to a Livonia park to meet an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old. His detention hearing is set for Oct. 15.
The federal affidavit filed Oct. 13 traces the investigation from an app conversation to a Livonia park. Christopher Thomas Mertens, 55, a Chicago-area high school maintenance worker, was arrested there after allegedly driving to meet someone he believed was a 15-year-old. He is charged with traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a federal offense punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The person Mertens allegedly expected to meet was an undercover officer posing as a teenager. Mertens appeared in federal court in Detroit on Oct. 13, 2026, and a detention hearing was scheduled for Oct. 15. The allegations have not been proven, and Mertens is presumed innocent unless found guilty.
An 11-page affidavit says an officer with Livonia's Undercover Resistance to Exploitation unit contacted Mertens on the dating app Taimi while posing as a 15-year-old boy named Caleb. The account used an AI-generated image that appeared to show a teenager.
Investigators allege Mertens kept messaging the account as the conversation turned sexual. He allegedly sent several explicit images and a video of himself masturbating while at work. The affidavit says he told the account he lived in the Chicago area and worked as a maintenance worker at a high school. It does not name the school.
Mertens allegedly said he also had a home in Michigan and traveled there often. He proposed meeting on Columbus Day, Oct. 12, when he said he had the day off. The planned meeting was at Beverly Park in Livonia. The two purportedly intended to walk to the teen's home while the teen's parents were at work.
Court records say investigators used law enforcement databases and an AI facial-recognition program to identify Mertens. A police database linked him to a 2008 Ford Escape, and Flock Safety cameras helped track the vehicle.
According to the affidavit, a Flock camera recorded the vehicle heading east on Interstate 94 near Gary, Indiana, at about 7 a.m. on Oct. 12. Mertens arrived at Beverly Park at about 10:15 a.m. and got out of the vehicle. Police then took him into custody.
In a later interview, Mertens allegedly told investigators he had traveled to Michigan to meet a 15-year-old for sex and had sent the person nude images of himself, the affidavit says. The statements and other allegations have not been tested at trial.
The case was brought in federal court because the alleged contact and trip crossed state lines. Mertens traveled from the Chicago area through Indiana before reaching Michigan. He made his initial appearance in Detroit federal court on Oct. 13. His attorney, Amanda N. Bashi, did not immediately return a call seeking comment, according to the original report.
The affidavit identifies Mertens's alleged workplace only as a high school in the Chicago area. It does not say he worked for a Michigan school district. Separately, Farmington Voice has reported on Michigan school-community activities, including a statewide walk-to-school event. That program is unrelated to this federal case.
