An Arlington attorney was arrested and accused of soliciting a minor for sex on the Internet.

Ronald Cohen, 57, was arrested Thursday and charged with soliciting sex on the Internet with a girl under the age of 15, but the girl was really a police officer.

"They decided that they would set up a meeting. Mr. Cohen went through with the meeting and that's where he was met with detectives and state troopers," said Crystal Nosal, of the Arlington County Police.

Cohen is a prominent attorney in Arlington, working largely in real estate. He is one of five directors of the Arlington County Bar Association, and had just attended a meeting the night before his arrest.

Police executed search warrants at his office, seizing computer equipment. They also searched his home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Mclean.

He and his wife Cathy have two college-age daughters and a son in high school.

Immediate neighbors declined comment, but the arrest was definitely unsettling to Andrew Durand, picking up his granddaughter at the bus stop.

"Not good at all. I think we ought to have more ways to stop them," said Durand.

Cohen is also on the board of directors for the Arlington Kiwanis, which has numerous activities with children.

"Everybody's very upset," Kiwanis president Ted Kramer said. "We can't imagine him being involved in anything like this. We hope it's wrong."

Cohen will be back in court May 22. Until then, he's being held without bond at the county jail.

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