&8220;I would suggest that all parents please monitor (what their children) do online and who they are talking to.&8221;

Those were the words of Captain Curtis Rigney of the Alabaster Police Department in the aftermath of the arrest of a Hoover man last Thursday for soliciting a child by computer.

Hector Laureano, 53, of 5616 Summer Place in Hoover, is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $1 million bond for the charge.

Rigney said the arrest was the result of a month-long investigation.

Laureano, he said, was a girls softball coach in Hoover and a friend of the family of the victim, an 11-year-old female child.

The arrest occurred after the child&8217;s mother was monitoring some of her daughter&8217;s e-mails .

She became suspicious when she discovered e-mails from an adult male.

Rigney said there was nothing illegal about the e-mails at that point. However, the mother notified Alabaster Police Department.

Rigney said the police department read the e-mails and found them suspicious in that they could lead to something else. At that point, police took the identity of the 11-year-old child.

He said the suspect began to &8220;instant-message&8221; the child and the conversations began to turn toward a sexual nature.

Rigney said last Thursday night, the suspect had set up a meeting with the child in Alabaster.

He said the suspect was &8220;going to pick

(the child) up and take her back to his apartment in Hoover.&8221;

Rigney said Laureano was taken into custody shortly after he arrived by Detective Sgt. Jeff Anthony of the Alabaster Police.

Rigney said Alabaster police have caught several suspects in this manner.

He said when it was discovered that the suspect was a youth league girls softball coach in Hoover, the Hoover Police were notified.

&8220;They acted quickly and were a big help to us,&8221; Rigney said.

He also said Alabaster Police executed a search warrant at the suspect&8217;s residence and recovered items connected to the investigation.

Rigney had a warning for parents.

&8220;Just because your child is in a chat room designated for small children doesn&8217;t mean there aren&8217;t other people in the chatroom.

&8220;Predators could be in the chat room … not always from another state. This man was a friend of the family. He knew the child personally.&8221;