The US government on Wednesday urged the United Arab Emirates to investigate one of its diplomats who fled the United States in connection with a sex crime. The United States had requested that the diplomat, Salem Al-Mazrooei, be stripped of immunity so he could face prosecution stemming from a case in the US state of Virginia but it later learned Al-Mazrooei had left American soil. Virginia authorities have accused Al-Mazrooei of trying to lure a 13-year-old girl on the Internet into having sex. Virginia investigators were posing as the girl as part of a regular effort to catch people soliciting sex with juveniles on the web, according to a local newspaper.A senior State Department official, who asked not to be named, said the US government was limited in what it could do in such cases involving diplomats. "We did go to the United Arab Emirates and ask them to waive diplomatic immunity for a diplomat in their embassy that was involved in this incident," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "We were informed at the time of presenting that request that the diplomat in question and his family members had departed the country." Ereli said the US government was entering his name into a file that would not allow him to return to the United States and called on UAE officials to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute Al-Mazrooei under their own laws.