Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – the 43rd Edition
My favorite day of the week! Here are 9 sordid tales of sickos busted online, either recently or moving through the justice system.
The reason I do this post every week is to remind parents and everyone out there that you can say the stats are low (in terms of child victims) but that doesn’t erase the fact that these guys ARE out there. Just because there are only a handful of shark attacks every summer, doesn’t mean you should totally ignore the possibility.
The bottom line is that as a parent it is your primary responsibility to keep your child safe. You don’t have to be over protective, but you have to have a certain amount of knowledge about your kid. When it comes to the online world, you need to know what types of groups and activities your child participates in, who they talk to, how they represent themselves, etc. just as you would in the real world…
In other words, you wouldn’t let your child roam New York City at night alone, why let them roam the internet completely unsupervised? You wouldn’t want your kid acting like an a-hole to people at school, why let them do it online?
There is a simple way for parents to know what their kids are doing online – it’s called PC Pandora computer monitoring software.
Think you don’t need to monitor? Take these two facts into account:
- Every time something drastic happens to a child online, the parents always say “I had no idea this was happening.”
- No parent has ever returned our software citing “my kid is a perfect angel, I have no need for this” as a reason for return.
Here is a summary of the stories you will find detailed below:
- A 28-year-old math teacher and former track coach in Florida had sex with one of his 16-year-old students. Yes, a real student. It was consensual.
- A 36-year-old New York man was arrested for sending inappropriate material and soliciting sex from a 16-year-old girl through MySpace. Another real girl consented.
- A Wisconsin man was arrested in an online sting op after traveling about an hour to meet what he thought was a 15-year-old girl for sex.
- A 32-year-old man from Hawaii, who claimed to be 18 online, was sentenced to one year in jail after meeting a 15-year-old girl (who claimed she was 16) he met on MySpace for sex. The meeting was consensual, but the sex was not. It is worth noting that the trial took 3 years and the laws have changed severely since then. Had he been caught now, it would have been a mandatory 10-year-sentence!
- Four men were arrested in an Internet sting operation in Mississippi. They range in age from 21 to 45, and one is a substitute teacher!
- A 32-year-old man in California was arrested for running a major MySpace scam. He posed as a 14-year-old girl to get teens to model for photos, and then had sex with them. At least 10 victims have been identified in southern California. Investigators believe there could be up to 100 more…
A married Haines City High School math teacher who declared on his MySpace page that he was falling in love with a 16-year-old student has been arrested on a sex charge, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
Allen Guerin, 28, a former track coach and the father of a 5-month-old child, had sex with the girl once and communicated with her about 600 times via text messages and cell phone over the Christmas break, a sheriff’s report states.
The two talked for several months and eventually had sex in the girl’s bedroom on Jan. 10, she told investigators. On Jan. 12, they lay in her bed and kissed only, the report says. Guerin’s wife that afternoon found out about the relationship through the MySpace page.
Guerin was arrested Thursday on a charge of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. His bail was set today at $75,000.
The girl is now 17.
May 9, 2009
Man charged with using MySpace to send high school girl inappropriate materialWARWICK – A Warwick man has been arrested by State Police and charged with disseminating indecent material to minors in the first degree, a felony, and aggravated harassment in the second degree.
Between October 2008 and March 2009, Clifford Wares, 36, of 151 Kings Highway, allegedly sent sexually explicit Internet correspondences to a female Pine Bush High School student through a MySpace account.
Wares was arraigned in Wallkill Town Court and remanded to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.
The State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Orange County District Attorney’s Investigators Unit participated in the investigation, which led to Ware’s arrest.
JANESVILLE — Law enforcement agencies defend their use of time and money to catch online sexual predators, even if they’re luring offenders from outside southern Wisconsin to local communities.
The Milton Police Department on May 2 arrested a Madison man suspected of driving to Milton to meet what he thought was a 15-year-old Milton girl.
The man was arrested and charged in Rock County after Milton police conducted an online sting. Local taxpayers will pay for the man’s prosecution and possible jail time.
The arrest stems from the Milton Police Department’s membership in the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a program touted by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office.
Jerry Schuetz, Milton police chief, said police used to patrol parks and schools, but now they have to patrol the Internet.
“We want to make it known that Internet predators are not safe there,” Schuetz said. “We want the Internet to be a safe place for kids and families.”
Law enforcement agencies have jurisdictional challenges with online sex stings, he said, but the time and money spent to protect local children is worth it.
The goal is to let sexual predators know if they come to Milton to meet a child, they could be meeting a cop, Schuetz said.
The guideline for whether it’s worth the time for his investigators to target online sexual predators is if the offender is willing to travel to Milton, he said.
If they are, a formal investigation is launched, Schuetz said.
The idea is to be proactive and stop them, rather than wait for a child to get sexually assaulted, Schuetz said.
Dave Moore, Janesville police chief, said his police department is part of the task force.
He wouldn’t comment on any ongoing investigation, but he said his department targets offenders who live in the area.
Janesville investigators focus on offenders in Janesville, Rock County or just outside the area, Moore said. They’re not interested in bringing in offenders from far-away places.
The expense of targeting out-of-state offenders is great considering they’re not a big threat to local children, he said.
Local investigators, however, can target out-of-state predators if federal money supports the cost of prosecuting and incarcerating those offenders, he said.
“If you were to take on offenders throughout the United States, I don’t’ think there is any end to the investigation or the cost of the investigation,” Moore said.
Todd Christiansen, Rock County sheriff’s captain, said the sheriff’s office is discussing whether to join the task force.
Sheriff’s investigators are trained to catch online predators, but they are not actively conducting such cases, he said.
“If they’re willing to come to our community, and we’re able to catch them and prosecute them, I think we should be doing it,” Christiansen said.
If predators won’t travel here, investigators should focus elsewhere, he said.
“It takes a lot of resources and time,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we haven’t started (online investigations) yet. With the amount of work we have, we haven’t had time.”
J.B. Van Hollen, the Wisconsin attorney general, said the goal of the program is to protect children.
If more agencies join the task force, they can cooperate across jurisdictional boundaries and take pedophiles off the street, he said. The task force encourages a universal approach.
The money used to conduct the investigations is worth it, Van Hollen said, and law enforcement agencies should be willing to arrest offenders from anywhere.
In the Milton case, the police department took a Madison offender off the streets, he said. Next time, the Madison Police Department might arrest a Milton offender.
The task force encourages cooperation, Van Hollen said, and no community is immune to the problem.
“The odds are the same crime could happen in reverse next time,” he said.
STATE TASK FORCE
Law enforcement agencies in the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force get training and equipment for online investigations targeting sexual predators.The task force has existed for 10 years, and 83 agencies are members, according to the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office.
The task force has led to the arrests of 540 suspects and the execution of 647 search warrants, according to the attorney general’s office.
The state is aware of more than 22,300 Internet addresses distributing child pornography, according to the attorney general’s office.
One in seven children are sexually solicited online, according to the attorney general’s office.
Area law enforcement agencies in the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force include:
- Edgerton Police Department
- Janesville Police Department
- Jefferson Police Department
- Lake Geneva Police Department
- Lake Mills Police Department
- Milton Police Department
- Whitewater Police Department
HONOLULU — One of Hawaii’s first Internet sex cases ended Monday with a one-year prison sentence.
That will mean early freedom for a dangerous sexual predator, prosecutors said.
It was among the first cases where the suspect met the victim on MySpace.com.
With more than three years in court, the case showed how difficult it can be to get a tough sentence when the victim pretended to be someone older online, KITV reported.
Matthew Cargill, 32, claimed he was 18 on the Internet. He met up with a 15-year-old claiming she was 16.
“I don’t think anybody should be able to go through what I went through,” the victim said in court.
In the three years since his arrest, Cargill went through sex offender and substance abuse treatment. His victim sought treatment for her mental suffering.
“How could you have done something so terrible to my daughter?” the victim’s mother asked Cargill in court. “He’s been able to continue on his life, while her life is still living in a prison on her own.”
“There’s no way I can give you guys back what was taken,” Cargill said.
The prosecutor said Cargill had a disturbing history, including indecent exposure and stealing underwear.
“The defendant is a sexual predator. He is a danger to the children of this community and he is a time bomb waiting to happen,” Deputy Prosecutor Thalia Murphy said.
Cargill’s lawyer said in this case he was enticed and fooled by the victims MySpace persona.
“We want to fight about this in court. This is going to be embarrassing to her family. I want to avoid this,” defense attorney Myles Breiner said.
Judge Karen Ahn gave Cargill the minimum sentence under the plea agreement, one year in jail with five years probation.
“You are forewarned that you will be very closely monitored,” Ahn said.
In the three years since Cargill became involved in one of Hawaii’s first Internet sex cases, the law has been toughened considerably. If convicted of the same conduct now, Cargill would have automatically received 10 years in prison.
May 12, 2009
4 arrested in Richland predator sting
By Justin Fritscher, Clarion LedgerThree men, including a substitute school teacher, drove to Richland after arranging a meeting on the Internet with who they thought were underage children but was actually Richland law enforcement, according to authorities.
Four people have been arrested since the operation was launched in late March, and the department is still investigating four others, Lt. Aaron Hirschfield said. Also, charges are pending on seven other people once the police department, with the help of the Attorney General’s Office, can locate their identities.
Booked into Rankin County jail are:
- Tremayne Whitehead, 28, of Hattiesburg. Charged with one count of enticement of a child for sexual conduct, one count of sale of controlled substance and three counts of sexually oriented materials disseminated to a minor. Whitehead is a substitute teacher in Petal.
- John Russell Randall, Jr., 21, of Starkville. Charged with dissemination of sexual oriented material to a minor. Another charge is pending.
- Jason Scott Covington, 32, of Jackson. Charged with enticement of child for sexual conduct.
- Dewey Delong, 45, of Pearl. Charged with enticement of child for sexual conduct and dissemination of child pornography to a minor.
No court dates have been set yet.
Some indicated that they had child pornography on their computers, Hirschfield said.
Hirschfield and Det. Lee Drake created profiles in online chat rooms and on social networking sites.
“We waited for an individual to come to us and escalate the conversation,” Hirschfield said. “The one thing that shocked us was how quickly we were targeted. Very few when they learned our age ended the conversation.”
Chief Russel James said the department will continue targeting the Internet-based crimes several times a year and this summer will hold seminar classes for parents and youngsters on how they can be more cautious on the Web.
“I thought all in all it was very productive, and we ended up getting more information than we thought,” the chief said.
“It’s disheartening to see so much exists.
“We want people to hear the name of Richland, and we want the online predators to say, I’m not going there.”
Related Story from WLBT-TV/ NBC 3: Men from across the state busted in online predator sting
May 12, 2009
Police: MySpace Predator Could Have 100 Victims
KTLA NewsRIVERSIDE — Authorities believe there may be dozens of victims of a MySpace scam that targeted teenage girls thoughout California, Canada and the United Kingdom.
32 year old Joshua David Threlkeld is accused of posing as a 14-year-old girl to get teens to model for photos, then having sex with them.
At least ten victims have been identified in Orange, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Riverside counties. Investigators believe there could be up to 100 more.
Threlkeld was arrested Friday, following an investigation that began in February with a report from two teenage girls who said they were contacted by a man who posed as a 14 year old girl using the name Sarah Miller on MySpace, according to sheriff’s Sgt. David Gutierrez
The girls were asked if they wanted to pose for photos with a man named “Josh” who ran a modeling agency called “Model-508 Studio,” according to sheriff’s officials. The two girls were picked up in Moreno Valley and driven to Orange County where the man photographed them. One of the girls was asked to pose during a second photo shoot in Palm Springs. Officials say that’s when the man had sex with the girl.
“When she became despondent because she wouldn’t be paid for modeling, Threlkeld offered her money for sex,” sheriff’s Detective Matthew Weinstein wrote in the declaration in support of an arrest warrant.
“Desperate to get money because her mother was on welfare and … behind on rent,” the girl agreed and got into a shower with the defendant, where she gave him oral sex and allowed him to do the same, as well as another sex act, the detective alleged.
The girl was allegedly paid $120 and taken home, Weinstein said.
Authorities were alerted after a friend of one of the girls learned about the alleged incidents and told her own mother, who contacted that girl’s mother, according to court documents.
Investigators were able to track down a man who fit the description of “Josh” using MySpace. His neck tattoos made him easy to track down, according to Guitierrez.
Police searched Threlkeld’s Orange County home and seized computers, cell phones, and cameras.
Investigators with the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team checked the suspect’s MySpace site, `Model-508 Studios,” and determined it was an online solicitation site for nude modeling work, and was apparently geared toward girls between 13 and 17 years of age, authorities said.
According to Weinstein, Threlkeld was successful in getting many girls to send him graphic, revealing poses of themselves.
Weinstein’s declaration states that Threlkeld, in an interview with detectives, admitted to being “sick” and taking nude photos of girls and sending those photos to them in order to entice them into taking more sexually explicit photos for him.
Threlkeld said he need help for his “addiction,” Weinstein wrote.
“He claimed the original two victims were `jealous’ and he did not know what they would say about him,” Weinstein wrote.
Threlkeld is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges of kidnapping to commit rape; aggravated sexual assault of a minor by force; penetration by force, violence, duress, menace or fear; communicating with a minor with the intent to commit a specified offense; and arranging a meeting with a minor.
More charges in connection with additional alleged victims, plus child pornography charges, may be forthcoming, authorities indicated.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:08 AM
someone near and dear used to work under one of the above mentioned. I am glad that justice and karma finally has caught up with this tool. I always knew something wasn’t right with the picture but never imagined he was up to targeting young, undeveloped, impressionable minds. I pray that the justice system 100% prevails in giving the above mentioned the rehabilitation that he needs. Thank you pearl PD for a job well done! When a criminal decides to take advantage of a young mind; not only are they affecting that life, but generations to come! Praise Jesus they prevented what could have been. To the parents reading this: be responsible for your future family and monitor your childrens internet! look out Pearl!!! police can’t be everywhere at once!