US Weekly Staffers: They're Just Like Us Except They Solicit Sex With Children on the Internet!

Gawker reports that an US Weekly staff writer has been arrested last night for soliciting a minor for sex on the internet. A press release from the States Attorney's office alleges that:

"McDarrah responded to a Craiglist ad offering “the freshest, youngest girls” available, corresponded with an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, and agreed to meet with her last night, at which point he was arrested. He also allegedly offered to buy the “girl” CDs, clothes, and an iPod, and he allegedly told her he worked at Us Weekly."

A quick internet search on McDarrah reveals him to have been the resident gossip columnist at the Las Vegas Sun before defecting to US, as reported in this September 2004 item:

"Rumor of the week (but this one's true): We hear the other paper's gossip columnist is moving on but hasn't let management know yet. He's moving back east to join a national magazine, the same publication he's been freelancing for -- and promoting -- while bashing the "ethics" of that magazine's competitor. Apparently, he missed the J-school classes on full disclosure. Reached by telephone on Saturday, Matt Hufman, metro editor of the Las Vegas Sun, said he is not aware that Timothy McDarrah is leaving the paper. McDarrah did not return messages by deadline." 

By "competitor" we assume they are referring to People, but if we were to graph his ethical lapses, I'd say he should focus less on his serial dissing of Leah Rozen reviews and more on the current charges.