VANCOUVER, Wash. - The mother of a Vancouver construction worker arrested Tuesday on charges of soliciting sex with underage girls online said her son is innocent.

Kim Woodworth said that her son, 24-year-old Nathaniel Edward Juhl, has found some girlfriends online in the past but "every girl he's met, I've met. And, yes, they are of age."

Juhl is scheduled to make an initial appearance before a federal judge Wednesday. He is charged with two counts of enticing a minor for sex.

According to an FBI press release, Juhl, who used the screen name "tanker1a466," had been conducting Internet chats with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend this month. The girls were actually an FBI special agent and a Beaverton detective.

On Tuesday, Juhl planned to meet both "girls" for sex in Beaverton, the press release said.

Instead, he was arrested near the Highway 217/Highway 26 interchange, close to where he was working construction at a local hospital.

His mother learned of the charges Tuesday night during a visit from a reporter.

"It comes as a complete shock," she said. "A complete shock to me."

Woodworth said her son has been fascinated with the Internet since he was 13.

"He likes to go on chat lines for hours," she said. "He's not an alcoholic, he's not a drinker, he doesn't do drugs. He's a clean cut kid."

The sting was part of the Innocent Images National Initiative, a program designed to crack down on those who make and traffic in child pornography and prey on children online.