Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – Issue 39
Another great installment of the weekly predator round-up. Next week will be the big 4-0!!!
This week, though, we have two fantastic reasons why you need to be using PC Pandora to know who your kids are talking to online. You simply can’t trust anyone… in this case, you can’t trust:
- A 40-year-old minister from Misssouri was arrested for using a Facebook account to entice someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl to meet for sex.
- A 45-year-old ex-teacher from Florida, already on strict probation for HAVING SEX WITH ONE OF HER STUDENTS, was arrested for violating her parole… by engaging teens online in sexual conversations.
Here are the stories…
April 8, 2009
Minister accused of using Facebook account to entice girl for sex
By Glenn Rice, The Kansas City StarClay County authorities Wednesday accused a 40-year-old minister of using a Facebook account to entice someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl to meet him for sex.
The Rev. Robert M. Black, a pastor at New Home Baptist Church in St. Joseph, is charged with one count of first-degree attempted statutory rape and attempted enticement of a child under 15. Bond was set at $100,000.
Black, of Independence, surrendered Wednesday, and authorities want to know if he had Internet contact with area children.
The criminal charges capped a lengthy investigation by the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, said Clay County Sheriff Bob Boydston.
According to authorities, Black used the Facebook account under the name “Jon Still” to trade e-mails with the 13-year-old “girl,” who was a task force detective.
During Internet conversations with the detective, Black allegedly discussed sex and things of a sexual nature. Black arranged a meeting near a Liberty bowling alley and told the girl not to wear underwear, court documents said.
Investigators Tuesday searched his home and computer evidence was recovered.
“We are concerned that a number of young females under the age of 16 may have been contacted by the user name ‘Jon Still,’ who we believe is Robert Black,” Boydston said.
Authorities are asking parents and Facebook users to contact the sheriff’s office at 816-407-3700 if they know of anyone who had communicated with Black, who had roughly 135 Facebook friends.
April 09, 2009
Tip led police to ex-teacher’s Facebook chat
By Jay StapletonDAYTONA BEACH — Port Orange police said Wednesday that a parent’s complaint about the online behavior of an ex-teacher serving probation for sex with a student led them to investigate, then her eventual arrest.
Detectives responded after the claim that Cynthia Horvath, a former Warner Christian Academy teacher, was violating a judge’s order by chatting with teenagers on Facebook.
“Obviously we feel that any information coming from any citizen is important enough for us to follow up on,” said Capt. Frank Surmaczewicz, who heads the department’s criminal investigations unit.
Horvath, 45, faced up to 15 years in prison for having a sexual affair with a 17-year-old student, but was given eight years of strict probation under a plea agreement and labeled a sex offender. On Tuesday, she was slapped with an accusation of violating her community control and placed under arrest for chatting with a child under 18. She remained held without bail Wednesday.
The teen wasn’t a teen, but a police detective posing as one.
A complaint from a parent made March 31 led detectives to create the fictitious online profile of a 16-year-old boy. Posing as the boy, the officer chatted with the former Warner Christian teacher later that day, a report states.
Probation officials believe Horvath violated her probation by that chat, which could land her in prison. First, prosecutors will have to prove the violation was willful and substantial.
Horvath was arrested Tuesday when she reported to her probation officer, as required. Later that day, her attorney had harsh words for the police investigation that led to that arrest. “They don’t have enough real work to do, apparently,” said the lawyer, Aaron Delgado.
Port Orange police were called by the parent of a Warner Christian student, the report states. The parent, Linda Alvarado, told police her daughter noticed Horvath “conversing with other students” on the popular social networking site.
Under the terms of Horvath’s community control, she was allowed to use the Internet, court records show. She was not supposed to have any contact with the student she had sex with, who is now 18, or anyone else under 18.
Port Orange police Sgt. Wayne Dorman said in the report that he checked Facebook, and found a profile under the name Cindy Horvath. “It showed a picture of her with what appeared to be her family,” Dorman said. “I noted there were a number of friends shown on her page, both male and female, who appeared to be of high school age.”
After speaking with probation officials about the terms of Horvath’s probation, Dorman said police believed the contact would be a violation. A subsequent investigation found that while most of the students on Horvath’s profile were 18, at least one was 17, the report states.
Using the fictitious profile, Dorman requested that Horvath be his online friend, and she accepted, the report states.
The detective said he received several e-mails from Horvath. When they used the site’s online chat feature, she typed questions about who he was, Dorman said. “It’s you isn’t it?” she asked, with a smiley face symbol. When he asked what she meant, she wrote, “I guess I was wrong — never mind, with a frown symbol after it.”
Horvath remains held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Her lawyer, Delgado, said while it isn’t wise for anyone on probation to talk to random strangers, “I know the law doesn’t require you to do a background check on everyone who contacts you.”
She will next appear before Circuit Judge J. David Walsh to request bail. When she was sentenced under her plea agreement back in February, Walsh warned her that straying from the terms of her community control could land her in prison.
