A Toronto man who used Craigslist to try to meet a 14-year-old girl at a Mississauga McDonald's has been found guilty of luring for the purpose of sexual touching.

What Abdyl Lambe, 57, didn’t realize when he showed up at the fast-food restaurant on July 14, 2010, was that purported 14-year-old girl he was exchanging several emails with over the course of a few weeks was in fact an undercover Peel Regional Police officer.

Justice Meredith Donohue found Lambe guilty of Internet luring of a person whom he believed to be under the age of 16, for the purpose of sexual touching. Under the Criminal Code, he faces a minimum one year in jail and a maximum of 14 years. Lambe will be in court Sept. 24 for sentencing.

Court heard Lambe placed a personal ad on Craigslist under the section of “Men Seeking Women,” which stated “your age is not important.”

An officer with the force’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit answered the ad using the name “Lisa” and described himself as a 14-year-old female. A lengthy email exchange ensued.

Seventy-six emails were sent from the Lambe Hotmail account and he asked that he be contacted on his cell phone, police said. There were a number of phone calls between that cell phone and an undercover officer’s phone, court heard, and, on July 14, 2010, per a pre-arranged meeting, Lambe attended at a McDonald’s in Mississauga to meet with the person, “Lisa,” but the person he met with was an undercover police officer posing as the girl. Lambe was arrested and charged.

Among the many emails was one in which the writer reassures the girl she will not get pregnant, court heard. One of the cell phone conversations included Lambe suggesting the two go to a nearby hotel, according to police testimony.

Lambe claimed during trial he never sent the emails and only went to the McDonald’s “innocently” looking for an explanation for what these emails were about. Lambe testified that he had no intention of having physical contact with the young person he was arranging to see.

When officers arrested Lambe, they found a box of condoms in his car and a list of five area hotels, court heard.

The judge ruled Lambe’s evidence wasn’t believable.