Weakly Reader

This makes me sad -- on so many levels.

FRANKLIN, Mass. (AP) - An editor for the publishing company that puts out the venerable Weekly Reader newspaper for schoolchildren was arrested on charges he solicited sex from a minor on the Internet.

Noel Neff, an editor at Stamford, Conn.-based Weekly Reader Corp., was arrested Saturday in a mall parking lot, where authorities said he had arranged to meet and have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy named Chris.

The "boy" was actually undercover FBI agent David George, authorities said. The two had arranged the meeting following a series of instant message conversations spanning more than two months, according to an affidavit filed by George.

Neff, 46, is charged with crossing state lines to solicit sex from a minor, a federal crime. He appeared in federal court in Boston on Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail.