Former Reporter Pleads Guilty In Undercover Sting

A former sports reporter arrested after unknowingly arranging a tryst with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

William D. Kalec pleaded guilty Monday to transmitting lewd and lascivious comments online and escaped being sentenced to prison in connection with his Aug. 9, 2006 arrest. Kalec was scheduled for trial this week on a charge of computer-aided solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes and would have faced at least two years in prison had he been convicted.

The Times Picayune reports Kalec was sentenced to five years of inactive probation, fined him $500 and ordered him to register as a sex offender.

Kalec covered LSU sports for the New Orleans newspaper. He was fired after his arrest.