A 50-year-old man who traveled from Las Vegas to South Lake Tahoe to meet a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet was arrested Thursday, authorities said.

Raymond Benjamin Pedroza, who used to live in South Lake Tahoe and Carson City, believed he was chatting with a 13-year-old girl on Yahoo! and MySpace. The girl was actually a decoy with Perverted Justice, a nonprofit organization devoted to identifying sexual predators through the Internet.

Perverted Justice workers provide assistance to the popular Dateline television special "To Catch a Predator."

Pedroza was arrested near Motel 6 and Carrows Restaurant on Lake Tahoe Boulevard when he made contact with an undercover 13-year-old girl. He was booked into El Dorado County Jail on suspicion of attempting a lewd act on a child. His bail is listed at $50,000.

"In a series of Internet chat sessions on Yahoo! and MySpace, Pedroza brought up sexual topics and suggested he meet the 13-year-old girl at a South Lake Tahoe motel," stated police Lt. Marty Hale.

"I'm glad we got this guy," said El Dorado County Assistant District Attorney Hans Uthe. "That's one less out there looking for a real (13-year-old)."

The arrest culminated an investigation by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and FBI.