One of four men arrested late last year in a series of online sex predator stings will spend a short stint in prison – but not for allegedly attempting to have sex with a minor.

Austyn J. Brown, 27, of Cahokia Heights, was sentenced Thursday in Monroe County Circuit Court to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, to be served at 50 percent, followed by six months of mandatory supervised release after his negotiated guilty plea to a charge of unlawful possession of methamphetamine. Brown also received credit for 84 days already served in jail.

Charges of grooming, traveling to meet a minor and solicitation to meet a child against Brown, all felonies, were dismissed.

Brown was one of multiple men arrested in Monroe County last year through communications with Online Predator Intervention, whose members often pose as young children on the internet in order to lure potential child predators into an arrest.

In Brown’s case, he was expecting to meet a 13-year-old girl outside of Moto Mart in Waterloo on a Friday in December after traveling on foot from Cahokia Heights. Police discovered drug paraphernalia during a search of Brown, resulting in the meth possession charge.

Responding to Thursday’s sentencing, a member of OPI said, “We’re very disappointed in Monroe County’s plea deal. We appreciate the work the Waterloo Police Department put into this.”