Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – Number 26
After a long hiatus, due to workload and travel, the blog returns – and what a post we have today. It’s another weekly round-up of older perverts chasing younger kids (or so they believe) on the Internet – and this round-up is HUGE!
So here’s a look at 23 more reasons why you need to have monitoring software like our PC Pandora on your machine to keep your kids safe. In fact, we just added a feature that captures Facebook’s instant messenger program (which runs right inside the web browser) specifically. So if you are the parent of a Facebook user, you can have security in knowing you will be able to see the conversations your child is having with other random users.
Here’s a summary of all the nasty pervs busted in the last 2 weeks!!
- A 33-year-old San Diego man was sentenced to 11 years in prison for traveling to Colorado in hopes of having sex with a mother and her 4-year-old little girl and 5-year-old little boy.
- A Connecticut doctor was arrested and charged with having sexually explicit online conversations with an investigator posing as a 15-year-old boy.
- An 18-year-old male in Detroit who met a 16-year-old girl on Facebook broke into her home and raped her. This wasn’t a sting operation. This was a real person that was harmed because she met someone on Facebook.
- A 35-year-old and a 25-year-old, both men from Louisiana, were busted for trying to solicit minors for sex on the internet
- 17 men – yes, 17! – were busted in a series of three one-week long operations in southern Florida. The ops were a joint effort between the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, with the assistance of the US Marshal Service. Awesome!
- A 29-year-old Wisconsin man was arrested last week for attempting to cause a child to view sexual activity and attempting to expose a child to harmful material… a.k.a. he exposed himself via webcam to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Finally, not really predators, but pervs nonetheless, here’s a short summary of two guy busted for trafficking child porn. Links are here – I didn’t put full stories down below:
- A 49-year-old Virginia man was found guilty by a federal jury Wednesday of five child pornography charges (one count of receiving child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography, and three counts of distributing child pornography) and now faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 90 years. He could additionally be fined up to $1.25 million when he is sentenced on Feb. 24.
- A 61-year-old High School teacher in North Carolina was arrested and is suspected of sharing more than 1,800 images of child pornography over the Internet! Wow.
Here are all the stories cut and pasted with links:
DENVER – A man from San Diego, Calif., was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison for traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Troy Eid, District of Colorado, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Copp.
Georges Najjar, 33, was charged by Criminal Complaint on March 17, and indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on April 8. He pleaded guilty before then Chief U.S. District Court Judge Edward W. Nottingham on July 29.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lewis T. Babcock sentenced Najjar to serve 135 months in prison on Nov. 24. Najjar was also ordered to spend five years on supervised release, and must register as a sex offender. Judge Babcock ordered Najjar, a national of Beirut, Lebanon, to be taken into custody immediately to begin serving his prison sentence. After he completes his prison sentence, ICE will place Najjar into deportation proceedings.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, on Jan. 29 an ICE special agent, acting in an undercover capacity, was on line in an Internet Relay Chatroom, where she observed an internet post made by an unknown male. The post stated that the man was interested in “sponsoring” a mother and her children. The ICE agent posed as a 27-year old single mother of two with a 4-year old girl and a 5-year old boy. The male, later identified as Najjar, chatted via the internet and talked on the phone with the undercover agent many times. During those chats and calls, Najjar stated that he was looking for a physical relationship with the woman as well as her children. Najjar further stated that he was in training to be a school teacher.
Najjar agreed to meet the undercover agent in Denver. On March 14, the defendant traveled on a flight from San Diego to Denver, Colo. When he arrived at Denver International Airport, he was met by the undercover agent and other ICE agents, and Denver Police officers. He was arrested and his luggage was seized. Children’s toys, candy, DVDs and other items were found in Najjar’s luggage.
“So-called ’sexual tourists’ who prey on Colorado’s children face federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid.
“This significant prison sentence is representative of the heinous nature of the crime, and the continued danger Mr. Najjar is to children everywhere,” said Jeffrey Copp, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Denver. “ICE’s active Operation Predator program is designed to work closely with local, state, federal and international law enforcement agencies to help protect children from predators like Mr. Najjar.” Copp oversees a four-state area, which includes: Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with support from the Denver Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Smith, District of Colorado.
This case was brought as part of “Project Safe Childhood.” In February 2006, the Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
This case was also investigated under Operation Predator, which is a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 11,600 individuals, including more than 300 in Colorado.
ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
December 10, 2008
Greenwich Hospital doctor arrested for Internet sex chats with minorsStamford, Connecticut doctor arrested for sexually explicit Internet chats. New York authorities charge medical specialist for indecency to minors.
December 9, 2008, New York, NY (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–Top informers with JusticeNewsFlash.com alert the arrest and arraignment of a Stamford, Connecticut doctor. Dr. Clifford Berken was arraigned in White Plains City Court before a New York judge last Thursday for allegedly having sexually explicit online conversations with an investigator posing as a 15-year-old boy.
New York authorities revealed to JNF reporters Dr. Berken was charged with one count of first-degree attempt of disseminating indecent material to minors. Legal officials say Berken allegedly had the online conversations from last Tuesday to Thursday. Berken believed the investigator to be a teenage boy and the conversations discussed various sex acts. Dr. Berken is a medical specialist in the division of gastroenterology. He is an attending physician practicing at Greenwich Hospital and operates out of his own practice in Greenwich. Berken is being held until a bail hearing Friday.
JusticeNewsFlash.com urges all consumers to be aware of predators on the Internet. Websites, Internet chat rooms and the availability of easy access through email gives sexual predators from all over the world simple access to your home and children through your computer. If you or one of your children have been victimized by the criminal activities of a sexual predator through your computer this may be a criminal and civil legal action. Contacting an attorney who specializes in criminal law and civil justice actions involving the exploitation of a minor may help you recover from the damages and injuries from these crimes.
News Contributor: Heather L. Ryan, victims rights advocate for minors and children specializing in medical and legal news involving injury from Internet predators.
JusticeNewsFlash.com (JNF) is a web site visibility medium allowing lawyers, reporters and other business professionals the ability to communicate with consumers in their communities. Ground breaking news topics covered including criminal law, family and divorce litigation, social responsibility issues, personal injury involving the exploitation of minors, children and immigrants, and business legal actions involving Internet violations.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP — She had never met him, but the girl thought the young man whose face she glimpsed on a computer screen could be a friend.
The 16-year-old Clinton Township girl first encountered the person calling himself “Michael Jones” on Facebook, the popular social networking Web site.
They became friendly, exchanged messages and arranged to meet at her home at least once.
But on the afternoon of Dec. 4, police said, the girl was home alone when Michael Thomas Robinson, 18, of Eastpointe came over again — but she refused to let him in the house.
Undeterred, Robinson then “snuck in through the basement window, went upstairs and raped her,” Det. Lt. Marc Rybinski said.
Robinson was charged Thursday in 41-B District Court with one count of first-degree home invasion and two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct during his arraignment.
The home invasion felony carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry penalties of up to life in prison.
Magistrate Daniel J. Goulette set bond at $750,000. A preliminary exam for Robinson is set for Dec. 22.
The crime is one prosecutors say illustrates the danger of Internet relationships.
“People might be lulled into a false sense of security because they might think they know somebody because they’ve had multiple interactions with them,” said Macomb Assistant Prosecutor Rebecca Oster, ” … when in fact it’s a charade on the computer.”
Oster said she’s handled many cases where victims were assaulted by people they met on the Internet, which has become a regular place for people to meet other than a bar or coffee house.
And many of those victims are younger girls, she said.
As for the “scary” incident involving the 16-year-old girl, Oster said, the victim “is physically OK. But emotionally, this is going to have severe repercussions.”
During the assault, Rybinski said the girl’s grandmother came home.
The attacker fled the house when he was interrupted.
The grandmother immediately called Clinton Township authorities, who unsuccessfully tried to track the attacker with the K-9 unit.
Clinton Township police arrested Robinson at his home without incident on Wednesday, Rybinski said.
Rybinski said Robinson lied on Facebook and to police about his name.
In a statement Thursday, Facebook officials said: “Facebook seeks to provide a safe and trusted environment by offering users industry-leading tools to control access to their information so they can choose what they share and with whom they share it.
“Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the victim and her family. We hope everyone will exercise caution when connecting with others unknown to them online or otherwise.”
According to a survey of about 40,000 children conducted earlier this year by i-SAFE Inc., a nonprofit foundation that educates students nationwide about Internet safety, 18 percent of fifth through 12th graders said they met “face-to-face” with an online acquaintance.
Officials say avoiding such encounters and limiting details shared can help prevent dangerous situations.
“You should guard your personal information,” said Jeff Godlis, communications director at i-SAFE. “There’s so much that can be pieced together. … You really have to know who your friends are.”
December 13, 2008
Online sting nets two sexual predatorsTwo Tangipahoa men have been arrested following a two day operation to catch online sexual predators.
According to Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards, detectives of his office, worked jointly with the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police to catch two Internet predators.
Detectives held the sting on Tuesday and it lasted through Wednesday. It was found that two men initiated online contact with people known to them as children and then they attempted to meet these children in person.
Marshall J. Burleigh, a 35-year-old male of Iowa, La. was arrested after he drove 50 miles to engage in sexual acts with a teenager, following a sexually explicit online chat with that teenager. He is being charged with computer-aided solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes as well as indecent behavior with juveniles.
Patrick J. Landry, a 25 year-old-male of Deridder, La. was taken into custody following his engagement in a sexually explicit online conversation with a teenager that led to his arranging to meet that teenager face to face for a sexual encounter. He is charged with computer-aided solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes.
Edwards reminds parents to closely monitor their children’s Internet activity, especially at this time of year when children have more free time because they are out of school for the holidays.
December 16, 2008
Police: 17 ‘Sexual Predators’ Arrested In Undercover StingThree sting operations investigating sexual predators that prowl for victims in cyberspace netted the arrest of 17 men who either solicited or traveled to visit juveniles they met online police said.
Undercover detectives from the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, with the assistance of the US Marshal Service, set up the three one-week long operations dubbed “2 YNG 2,” or “Too Young 2.”
The stings were conducted over a period of seven months, where the detectives posed as juveniles on various social networking sites. Police said the men would initiate contact through chats that quickly turned explicit in nature, exchanged emails and texts, and had phone conversations with the undercover detectives, who the suspects believed to be young boys or girls.
Fifteen of the suspects arrested traveled from as far as West Palm Beach for the purpose of performing sexual acts with the “juveniles.” The men showed up at a prearranged location where they were then arrested by BSO and the US Marshals.
If anyone suspects or knows of someone who is exploiting children through the internet, you are asked to contact your local law enforcement agency or you can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or online at www.cybertipline.com.
December 17, 2008
Crimes Against Children: Man ArrestedMADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Madison is launching a review into a researcher charged in an online sex sting.
Twenty-nine-year-old Kevin Kreisel is charged with attempting to cause a child to view sexual activity and attempting to expose a child to harmful material. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which accuse him of exposing himself on a Web cam to a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.
University spokeswoman Amy Toburen says the school did not find out about the charges filed in Vernon County in western Wisconsin until today.
Kreisel was still working this afternoon at a chemistry laboratory, where he is a research associate. Reached by phone, he said he had no comment.
Online court records show Kreisel was first charged in October. Prosecutors amended the charges last month before he made his initial court appearance.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
________________________________________________Posted Monday, December 15, 2008
From the Attorney General’s Office:VIROQUA – The Viroqua Police Department, a new affiliate of the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, recently completed its first Internet Crimes Against Children investigation that has led to the arrest of Kevin A. Kreisel.
Mr. Kreisel has been charged with one count of Attempting to Cause a Child to View Sexual Activity, a class “H” felony punishable by a maximum penalty of 3 years of imprisonment and a $5,000 fine and one count of Attempting to Expose a Child to Harmful Material, Descriptions or Narrations, a class “A” misdemeanor punishable by a maximum penalty of 9 months of imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
“I want to congratulate Chief Mark Rahr and Officer Emilee Nottestad on their first Internet Crimes Against Children Case,” said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. “The Viroqua Police Department is a key partner in the fight to help protect Wisconsin’s kids from internet predators.”
A complete copy of the criminal complaint is available at http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/121508_01.pdf.
Kreisel appeared in Vernon County Circuit Court before Judge Rosborough on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 for a preliminary hearing. He waived his preliminary hearing at that time and is scheduled for a status hearing in February, 2009.
A defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence. The prosecution must prove its allegations at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
