Pandora’s Blog

So, after I posted yesterday, I got headlines of FIVE more predator stories. Usually, if stuff comes in after I post, I hold it until the following week. But this was just too many to hold on to… AND, the last one is probably my all time favorite; file it under the “I couldn’t make this up if I tried” category.

• A 28-year old New Jersey man was arrested for luring a 13-year-old girl he met on MySpace. The girl’s parents found out about the relationship and called police. Oh yeah, before he was arrested, the girl had met him several times for consensual sex.
• A 15-year-old girl met a 34-year-old man on MySpace in Indiana. Girl lied and said she was 20 in her profile, and then said she was 15 later. Turns out the guy served 11 years for attempted rape of 2 little girls. Now, 15-year-old is crying “victim”, even though she knowingly went to a church to meet him, got in his van, and drove to a different location to have sex. She is not claiming rape… she consented.
• In Pennsylvania, a 49-year-old man was busted in an Internet sting for soliciting what he though were 13 and 14-year-old girls for sex. Oops! It was the cops instead!
• A 52-year-old former federal officer in Louisiana was sentenced this week for enticing, who he thought was a young girl online, to perform sexual acts over the computer.

And finally, I couldn’t make this one up… it’s been getting a lot of press lately in the “ironic” news section…

•  33-yearld-old Michigan man was arrested in an Internet predator sting after trying to solicit, what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, for sex. He showed up to meet the “girl” and was wearing – are you ready- a t-shirt that read “World’s Greatest Dad.” Ridiculous.

Just more reasons to use PC Pandora monitoring software to keep your kids safe from sickos like these… and in the consensual cases, keep them safe from themselves! Notice the top two stories involve old man, young girl, MySpace and consensual sex. Still think teens are innocent and shouldn’t be monitored?

It’s long, but fun… please

July 15, 2008
Plainsboro man charged with luring 13-year-old via MySpace
By Alexi Friedman, The Star-Ledger

Westfield police have charged a 28-year-old man with luring a 13-year-old girl he had met on the Internet into a sexual relationship, authorities said today.

The two met on the social networking website MySpace, authorities said.

Derek McDonough of Plainsboro, Middlesex County, was arrested late Thursday night, hours after the girl’s parents became suspicious about their daughter’s internet activity and called authorities, Westfield police Capt. Cliff Auchter said.

The teenager, who lives in Westfield, Union County, told detectives that McDonough contacted her about six months ago on her MySpace account, Auchter said. Within the last month, he and the girl had been meeting at various locations, engaging in sexual activity, police said. Her admission gave police probable cause for the arrest, Auchter said.

McDonough was apprehended in his home around midnight. He was charged with sexual assault, luring and enticing a child, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual contact. He was held at Union County Jail in Elizabeth in lieu of $150,000 bail.

July 16, 2008
Local Teen Meets Sex Offender On MySpace:
Man Served 11 Years For Attempted Rape

DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. — It all started with chatting on MySpace.

It seemed harmless enough at the time to a 15-year old girl who we’ll call Tara.

She admitted a lot of girls her age try to meet people online, and the older man she met was paying her a lot of attention

“He told me he loved me all the time,” Tara said.

Tara admits that at first she was pretending to be older. She claimed to be 20, even posted it on her MySpace page.

But she said she quickly told her new friend the truth.

“I told him, ‘You know I’m only 15, right?’ because he was flirting with me,” Tara said.

Tara said the 34-year-old man on the other side of the computer was a little worried but still interested.

“He was worried about it because he didn’t want to go to jail,” she said.

Tara was talking to Dennis Boehm. Dearborn County sheriff’s Detective Brian Fields said she was nothing more than a target.

“He was prowling. He was hunting. He was hunting for a victim,” he said.

Boehm is a sex offender who spent 11 years in prison for trying to rape two children, ages 9 and 11.

Boehm didn’t mention this to Tara.

“I didn’t even think about it at the time because all I’m thinking is ‘I’m a virgin and somebody wants to have sex with me that’s older than me,’” Tara said.

So Tara decided to walk to her local church, where she said Boehm picked her up in a van and took her to the local American Legion post parking lot, where they had sex.

Her mother said she had no idea it happened.

“She could have been killed. She could have been raped,” she said.

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with. This could have turned out to be a tragedy,” Field said.

“I’m glad the guy did bring her back,” Tara’s mother said.

News 5’s Sheree Paolello tried to talk to Boehm, who lives with his parents. His parents would only say Boehm has ADHD and that they do not believe he had any idea that Tara was only 15.

“It upsets me very much because it’s happened before,” another woman told Paolello. “To hear he’s done it again. I just think he needs to rot. It hurts so bad.”

The woman knows Boehm all too well. She was the 9-year-old girl that Boehm tried to rape years ago.

“It hurts me to know that he has hurt another child, to know that he has damaged somebody the way that he damaged me,” she said.

Field said predators don’t have to hide in the woods or on playgrounds anymore.

“If you have a child that’s using a computer, you have got to know what they are doing,” he said.

“I’m just glad he didn’t do anything really, really bad to hurt me,” Tara said. “I don’t think I’ll ever go on MySpace again because I didn’t realize how many people are like that in the world.”

As for the man who didn’t want to go back to jail, prosecutors say Boehm could get six to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Pike man charged with attempted Internet sex

HARRISBURG - Agents from the Attorney General’s ChildPredatorUnit have arrested a Pike County man accused of using Internet chat rooms to sexually proposition what he believed were 13 and 14-year old girls from the Harrisburg area. The “girls” were actually undercover agents from the Child Predator Unit who were using the online profiles of children.

The suspect is identified as Andrew Beck, 49, 102 Avenue G, Matamoras.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Beck, using the screen name “lovindad59,” allegedly used Internet chat rooms to approach two different undercover agents from the Child Predator Unit, one using the online profile of a 13-year old girl and the other using the online profile of a 14-year old girl.

According to the criminal complaint, Beck sent nude webcam videos of himself to the girls and instructed them to masturbate - commenting, “love to explore your body,” and “I could teach you other things too.” Beck is also accused of asking the girls to meet him for sex and describing in graphic detail the sex acts he wished to engage in.

Beck is charged with four counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a computer, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.

Beck was preliminarily arraigned on Monday, before Harrisburg Magisterial District Judge Joseph S. Solomon, who set bail at $50,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 23, at 9:30 a.m., before Magisterial District Judge Solomon.

Beck will be prosecuted in Dauphin County by Deputy Attorney General Michael A. Sprow of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit.

Corbett noted that Beck was arrested on July 14th by agents from the Attorney General’s Office when he appeared in court in Harrisburg on charges related to a similar arrest by the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office that occurred in March 2008. In the Dauphin County case, Beck is charged with traveling from Pike County to the Harrisburg area after allegedly arranging to have sex with what he believed were two girls, age 10 and 13. That case is being prosecuted separately, by the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.

Beck is the 150th Internet Predator to be arrested in Pennsylvania by the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit, which was created in 2005 to investigate and apprehend online predators.

Corbett urged anyone with information about suspected Internet predators to call the Attorney General’s Child Predator Hotline at 1-800-385-1044, or file an online complaint using the Attorney General’s website - www.attorneygeneral.gov (Click on the “Report an Internet Predator” link on the front page of the website).

Former Acadiana federal officer sentenced in online child enticement case
Mike Sanders / Eyewitness News

A three-parish investigation, in which deputies with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office played a role, led to the arrest and conviction of a former federal law enforcement officer from Acadiana in connection with an online child enticement case, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Tangipahoa Sheriff Daniel Edwards reports that 52-year-old Randy P. Courville of Eunice, who at the time was a police officer in the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without probation, five years of supervised release upon completion of the prison term, register as a sex offender, participate in sex offender treatment, not subscribe or otherwise use the Internet, and not associate with minors.

Sheriff Edwards says that Courville had earlier entered a guilty plea to one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. Sentencing in the case was on Monday, July 14.

Sheriff Edwards says that three simultaneous undercover online investigations had begun with deputies from Tangipahoa and St. Landry Parishes and officers from the Kenner Police Department posing as a “little girl”. Sheriff Edwards says that Courville then contacted the “little girl” and discussed sexual matters, asking “her” to perform sexual acts and send him some pictures.

“It is a sad day when one officer has to arrest another officer for wrongdoing,” said Sheriff Edwards. “When a police officer violates his oath and breaks the law, it can erode the public’s confidence in law enforcement. The successful prosecution of this case was important to us to demonstrate to the public that no one is above the law. Additionally, Courville’s ten-year sentence without the possibility of parole serves as a warning to Internet predators that there are serious consequences for preying on our children.”

Sheriff Edwards adds that this case was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

‘World’s Greatest Dad’ Arrested As Predator

A man whose shirt proclaims him as the “World’s Greatest Dad” has been arrested on charges he tried to use the Internet to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor. He was caught in one of Attorney General Mike Cox’s cyber stings.

From the Attorney General’s office:
LANSING - Attorney General Mike Cox announced today the arrest of Daniel Allen Everett, of Clarkston, Michigan, for using the Internet to arrange a meeting for sex with a minor.

“Today’s arrest is a reminder that a parent can pose a threat to our children,” said Cox. “And no matter how “great” a criminal thinks they are, if you intend to harm or solicit children, my office is coming after you.”

Mr. Everett’s photo has been provided in order to encourage other possible underage victims to identify the perpetrator.

Attorney General investigators arrested Everett, 33, for chatting online with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl that he met in a chatroom. Everett allegedly engaged in graphic sexual conversation with an undercover agent and propositioned the agent, who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, to meet him for sex.

This afternoon, Everett was arrested in Novi where he is alleged to have appeared to meet the minor for sex. He was arrested wearing a T-shirt with the words, “Worlds Greatest Dad” on the front, a sad reminder that Internet predators come from all walks of life.

Everett was arraigned today in the 52-1 District Court in Novi, before the Honorable Andra Dudley, on 1 count of Child Sexually Abusive Activity, a 20-year felony, and 1 count of Using the Internet to Commit Child Sexually Abusive Activity, a 20-year felony.

Judge Dudley set bond at $50,000 cash and Everett will be back in court to face trial. The date is to be announced.

Parents are encouraged to check their children’s “buddy lists” for the screen name(s) Everett used including “danmichelle2004″. If they believe their child had contact with Everett, parents should contact the Attorney General’s office at (313) 456-0180.

A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Cox’s Criminal Division has arrested 198 Internet sexual predators since 2003. Attorney General Cox encourages parents to visit www.michigan.gov/ag for tips on safe Internet usage for children. Citizens can also report suspected Internet child predators via the Report Internet Abuses Against Children link, or by calling the Child and Public Protection Unit at (313) 456-0180.

Tags: computer monitoring software, cyberbullying, electronic bullying, facebook, internet predators, internet safety, key logging software, keylogger, monitor online activity, monitoring internet activity, monitoring PC activity, monitoring software, MySpace, online bullying, online predators, online safety, PC monitoring software, pc pandora

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