UPDATE: 'Weekly Reader' Editor Was Caught in FBI Sex Probe

By: E&P Staff Details have emerged since E&P first reported yesterday that an editor at Weekly Reader, the newspaper for school kids, was arrested by federal authorities after he allegedly tried to solicit sex from someone he thought was a teenage boy.

It turns out that the 14-year-old named ?Chris? who he met in a Web chat room was actually an undercover FBI agent named David George.

Noel Neff, 46, of Norwalk, CT, a former sportswriter for Florida papers, was arrested Saturday outside a mall in Franklin, Mass., where authorities say he had hoped to meet "Chris."

He now faces federal charges of using an interstate facility (the Internet) to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.

According to court documents, Neff had more than 20 online conversations with Chris. The FBI agent sent an image of an adolescent boy to Neff's Weekly Reader e-mail address, the affidavit states. It also claims that Neff said he had already had sex with boys 15 and 17. "I'm scaring myself. I sound like Michael Jackson,'' Neff allegedly wrote.

E&P first revealed Tuesday that Neff was listed as ?editor? or ?staff editor? at the Weekly Reader and had covered last year's Republican convention in New York and this year's Super Bowl for the publication. He has freelanced for newspapers such as the St. Petersburg Times in the past.

Neff's attorney, Chauncey Wood, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Neff was released Monday on bond and is scheduled to appear for a probable cause hearing at federal court in Boston on July 28.