A University of Hawai'i professor caught in an Internet sex sting last month faces as much as 10 years in prison after his surprise guilty plea yesterday to electronic enticement of a child.

Marc P.C. Fossorier's lawyer, Victor Bakke, said Fossorier decided not to dispute the charge and "take responsibility and deal with it."

An associate professor of engineering, Fossorier, 43, has had an "impeccable" career and has not been in trouble with the law before, Bakke said.

Fossorier was caught in an electronic sting operation run by the Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, in which a detective pretended to be a 15-year-old girl in Internet chats with Fossorier.

Bakke said the chats lasted over an eight-month period and were run "by a detective who was trying to set (Fossorier) up."

Fossorier eventually agreed to meet the 15-year-old girl for sex and was arrested when he arrived at the meeting place.

Agreement to meet and actually attempting to meet are necessary elements of the electronic enticement offense. Fossorier is at least the 15th person arrested by the state task force on suspicion of trying to lure minors for sex via the Internet.

Bakke said his client is like "a lot of people who think that if this was illegal it wouldn't be on my computer."

"This is not a pedophile case," Bakke said. "There's no evidence that my client is a predator."

Punishment for the offense requires at least one year in jail and could be as severe as 10 years in prison.

Bakke said Fossorier, a foreign national, faces possible deportation proceedings, loss of employment and the lifelong stigma of being a convicted sex offender.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.