A 29-year-old engineer from Virginia was arrested at a Taneytown shopping center yesterday, accused of traveling there after arranging over the Internet to have sex with a fictitious teen-age girl, according to state police.

Saqib U. Qureshi of the 8100 block Briar Creek Drive, Annandale, was charged with attempted second-degree rape and attempted second-degree sex offense and with using a computer to solicit sex with a minor, police said. He was taken to the Carroll County Detention Center to await a hearing before a District Court commissioner, police said.

A native of Pakistan, Qureshi is in the United States on a work visa and is employed as an engineer in Reston, Va., said Carroll County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Brown.

The arrest by members of the Maryland Internet Crimes against Children Task Force occurred after Brown posed in a chat room as a 13-year-old girl and was contacted by a man who arranged a meeting to have sex, Brown said.

It is the 11th such arrest by the task force in Maryland this year.

The legality of charging suspects with attempted rape and sex offenses - when no real minor is involved - has been challenged and is awaiting a ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals.