Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – # 20!!!
Wow. My 20th post. My 20th round-up of scum and villainy tat troll the Internet looking to have sex with underage kids. That means that for at least 20 weeks there have been enough stories to tell of arrests. Do you really think predators aren’t a problem? I should go back and count, but I guarantee it’s over 200 guys… in the last few months… and they are just the ones caught.
Parents, there is too much at stake. Your child may not currently be talking to one of these sickos… but that doesn’t mean the sickos aren’t trying to talk to them… PC Pandora monitoring software can help keep your kids far away from creeps like this.
Below are the counts of 24 scumbags. Here’s a summary:
- A 49-year-old and 30-year-old man from PA were both arrested on separate accounts for trying to arrange sex with young teenage girls over the Internet in a sting operation conducted by the state attorney general’s office.
- A 33-year-old Connecticut man arrested in July was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges he sexually assaulted several young women, including some he met through the social networking Internet site MySpace.com.
- 21 alleged internet predators were arrested during a sting operation this weekend at a Grand Rapids-area (WI) house over the weekend, thinking they would have sex with a girl as young as 13 or 14. Perverted Justice worked on this one worked with about a dozen Kent County sheriff’s detectives and deputies.
- A 25-year-old man from Illinois used Facebook to trick a teenage boy into having sex with him and then blackmailed him for more. The man has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison.
Full stories with links here…
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Internet sting nets child-sex suspects
BY Pete Shellem, The Patriot-NewsTwo Hummelstown men are accused of trying to arrange sex with teenage girls over the Internet in a sting operation conducted by the state attorney general’s office.
John F. Geist, 49, of the 1000 block of Chestnut Place, and Hiram E. Staley, 30, of the 200 block of Cameron Avenue, were charged with unlawful contact with minors and unlawful use of a computer in separate arrests by the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit.
Geist allegedly approached an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl on Oct. 9 and offered to send the girl dirty pictures and asked if she wanted to meet.
According to arrest papers, Geist sent the girl three sexually explicit photos during their first chat and described sexual acts.
Geist was arrested the day after his initial contact with the girl, when he arrived at a meeting location in Swatara Twp.
He is charged with four counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a computer.
He was freed after posting $50,000 bail set by District Judge Michael J. Smith pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 31.
Staley is accused of engaging in a series of online chats with an undercover agent who was using the profile of a 13-year-old girl, asking the girl if she would engage in sexual activity. Staley also is accused of sending the girl a video that showed him masturbating.
Authorities said Staley moved several times during the investigation, using a number of different Dauphin County addresses and relatives’ homes to chat with the undercover agent.
Staley is being held in Monroe County on charges related to a similar online investigation conducted by the Barrett Twp. Police Department. He will be arraigned via video before Royalton District Judge David H. Judy.
REPORTING PREDS
Suspected Internet predators can be reported to the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit at www.attorneygeneral.gov or 800-385-1044.
October 20, 2008
Man sentenced to 20 years in MySpace sex caseROCKVILLE, Conn. – A 33-year-old Tolland man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges he sexually assaulted several young women, including some he met through the social networking Internet site MySpace.com,
Scott Shefelbine pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor, delivery of liquor to minors, and one count each of unlawful restraint and third-degree assault.
Prosecutors say Shefelbine continued to prey on teenage girls even after being arrested. He has been jailed since a judge revoked his original $1.5 million bail on July 12, 2007.
Monday October 20, 2008
21 alleged predators arrested in sting at Grand Rapids Township house
By John Tunison, The Grand Rapids PressGRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP — A national organization aimed at catching Internet child sexual predators nabbed 21 men who showed up at a Grand Rapids-area house over the weekend, thinking they would have sex with a girl as young as 13 or 14.
The Perverted Justice Foundation worked with about a dozen Kent County sheriff’s detectives and deputies over the weekend, staging at a Grand Rapids Township home while men from as far away as Illinois and Indiana came to the house expecting to see the young teen.
Instead, they were arrested, often as they came through the front door.
Perverted Justice decoys, portraying themselves as 13 or 14 in Web chat rooms, had been talking with the men for up to a month before the weekend sting. The men who showed up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday had arranged to meet the teen for sex, said Xavier Von Erck, the foundation’s director.
The suspects, all taken to jail, ranged in age from 20 to 65.
Perverted Justice is the same group that worked with Dateline NBC in its popular “To Catch A Predator” series.
In Grand Rapids, the group worked with the Michigan Attorney General’s office to set up operations in an undisclosed house. An agency called Investigative Mechanics filmed the Grand Rapids sting.
Perverted Justice also worked with the Attorney General in March to catch 27 people who showed up at a southeast Michigan home. The stings take a lot of preparation, Von Erck said.
“We work from around the nation. In this case, the decoys log on and pretend to be from Michigan,” he said. “(Suspects) bring up the fact they want to meet and from there we just say ‘when?’”
Often, men looking for sex will show up at the sting house at nearly the same time because they often arrive late or early to the arranged rendezvous.
“You’ll have guys showing up on top of each other left and right,” Von Erck said. “But we are pretty practiced at this point in handling that situation.”
Von Erck described 21 arrests as a good sting. At least four of the men drove from Indiana and one from Illinois.
“We are very happy with that,” he said. “Anytime you can get more than a few guys on a weekend, you’re doing a great job.”
Often, Internet predators will not have any previous criminal record. Some will admit they had seen a “To Catch A Predator” show, knew the risks and still drove to a rendezvous point.
“It’s unbelievable from our perspective,” Von Erck said. “We’ve been at this more than five years. I thought after a few years it would be over, but it keeps going.”
Kent County sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Kaechele said he was pleased with the weekend operation’s results. The sting was “kept under wraps” to media for security reasons, he said.
“I have a daughter in that (decoy) age group,” he said, “so I’m proud of what was accomplished.”
Police and the Attorney General’s office planned a press conference on the sting as early as today.
A north suburban man who posed as a teenage girl online was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison Tuesday for using Facebook to solicit minors for sex.
Michael Macalindong, 25, of Fox Lake also will be supervised for the rest of his life when released. Authorities said Macalindong somehow bypassed the security controls on facebook.com, a social networking Web site.
“This case reveals the disturbing truth that some adults will go to great lengths to sexually exploit minors,” Gary Hartwig, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Chicago said in a statement. The agency also investigates national and international sex predators.
Facebook said this was the first time they knew of a predator breaking into the system and using it to meet children.
Authorities said Macalindong, posing as the girl in 2006, sent messages to a North Shore teenage boy. After several friendly messages, the conversation turned sexual.
Macalindong told the teen he could have sex with “her”—but only if the teen had sex with her male friend first. Macalindong was that male “friend,” police said.
Macalindong was arrested in 2007 after demanding money from the teen in exchange for not posting any videos of their encounters. The teen reported the blackmail.
Macalindong, a mortgage broker, pleaded guilty to eight counts of producing child porn, possession of child porn and attempted child enticement in June.
