Pandora’s Blog

Another big week for cops busting online predators…. Just the other day I read another article by a pretty well-known journalist within the tech field that again tried to remind people that the Internet problem is overblown…

Really? Well, last week…

• A grand jury indicted 6 men in Texas for using the internet to solicit sex for minors… to the point where they traveled to a destination with the intention to do so…
• A 21-year-old college student in Delaware met a 12-year-old girl on MySpace. He eventually met her in real life numerous times and had sex with her. Of course, she CONSENTED. When the parents found out, they called the cops. The 21-year-old is also linked to similar events with a 14-year-old. SO that’s TWO real life girls this guy met on MySpace and convinced to have consensual sex with him… Nope, no problem with predators at all…
• A 53-year-old state prison employee in Colorado met what he thought was a 14-year-old girl online and solicited her for sex. When he drove to her house, he found the cops instead!
• An Internet Predator sting in Michigan captured 9 men, ranging in age from 24 to 53, who all met what they thought was a child online and arranged to travel to a location to have sex with the “child”… thankfully it was an undercover sting op and no kids were involved…
• In Kansas, 3 men were arrested in a sting operation for soliciting sex from what they thought were children online.

So… uh… 20 guys in one week… Still not a problem? Still overblown? To me, this weekly posting – especially weeks like this were 20 guys are caught (and remember, these are just the ones we caught) – is a clear reminder to parents that they MUST monitor what their kids are doing online and who they are talking to because THESE GUYS DO EXIST!!

Make no mistake about it… And if your child is a typical child willing to take risks and make friends online, you need to be aware of what they are doing… If you are not aware, there is a good chance that someone else is!

Here are stories and links…

August 12th, 2009
Grand Jury Indicts Six For Allegedly Using Internet To Target Teens For Sex
By InstantNewsWestu Staff

A Harris County grand jury today indicted six defendants who used the Internet to target underage teens for sex.

The indictments stem from an undercover investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit and the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children affiliate.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos’ office will prosecute the cases.

Omair Ahmed Khan, 26, of Houston; Travis Dale Chapman, 29, of Huntington Beach, Va.; Joshua Clayton, 28, of Cypress; James Raymond Watters, 26, of Houston; Michael Alan Blazek, 31, of Ennis; and Michael Leo Sadler, 53, of Spring, were arrested in May during the joint undercover operation.

Cyber Crimes Unit and ICAC investigators assumed online identities that made them appear to be young teenage children.

“All six defendants are charged with using the Internet to prey upon children,” Attorney General Greg Abbott said. “Today’s indictments reflect cooperative law enforcement efforts by the Houston ICAC task force, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Cyber Crimes Unit. The Cyber Crimes Unit will continue working to protect young Texans from online predators.”

Khan, who indicated he is a community college student, was indicted on two counts of online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony. Investigators arrested him May 18 after he arrived at a Houston location where he planned to meet and sexually assault someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl he met in an Internet chat room.

Investigators arrested Chapman May 20 after he arrived at a Houston apartment complex to meet and sexually assault someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl he had met online. Chapman faces a two-count indictment for online solicitation of a minor.

On May 21, Clayton was arrested after arriving at a pre-arranged location to meet and sexually assault someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. According to investigators, Clayton claimed to be a photographer and offered to take illicit photographs of the teen during their meeting.

He was indicted on two counts of online solicitation of a minor, both second-degree felonies.

Watters, a movie theater employee, was arrested May 26 after he arrived at a north Harris County location to meet and sexually assault someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl he met online.

During online chats with the “girl,” investigators allege Watters used a Web camera to share illicit images of himself. Watters was indicted on two counts of online solicitation of a minor.

Blazek faces two counts of online solicitation of a minor after he chatted with an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. Although Blazek did not actually travel to meet with the online minor, Texas law makes it a felony to “knowingly solicit” a minor for sex.

State law also explicitly prohibits offenders from defending charges against them by arguing that no meeting actually occurred. Blazek was already was in custody in Tarrant County Jail for online solicitation of a minor by the Fort Worth Police Department.

The grand jury indicted Sadler on one count of possessing child pornography. Investigators arrested Sadler May 28.

Second-degree felonies are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Third-degree felonies carry possible punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

August 13, 2009
From MySpace to rape charges
21-year-old charged with using networking site to pick up 12-year-old
By Terri Sanginiti, The News Journal

On his MySpace page, Nick Hoyt describes himself as a University of Delaware nursing student “working hard to get my RN license.”

He says he played varsity football in high school, has a red belt in martial arts and works hard, studies hard and parties hard.

New Castle County police last week charged the 21-year-old with using the social networking site to lure a 12-year-old girl and raping her during repeated sexual encounters.

He’s also been linked to similar activities with a 14-year-old girl, said county police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro.

Authorities are urging other parents to talk to their children about the dangers of cyber predators

Hoyt’s My Space screen name is “NICKK302.”

Navarro said parents should be aware of who their children are contacting on the Web site.

Hoyt, of the 100 block of Wembley Road in the Westgate Farms community, was charged Aug. 4 with eight counts of second-degree rape.

He is being held in Young Correctional Institution in lieu of $240,000 cash bail.

Navarro said detectives began the investigation July 24 after being alerted by the girl’s parents.

The acts are said to have taken place between March 5 and July 8 in the 200 block of Campfield Road in the Scottfield community.

The victim met the man on the MySpace Web site and initially held online conversations with him, police said.

The girl’s parents decided to check her MySpace account and found conversations between the two that were sexual in nature and confronted their daughter about it.

Once the girl’s father found out she was texting Hoyt, he talked to Hoyt in January or February, telling him his daughter was only 12, according to police records.

But the girl told authorities that she began having sex with Hoyt in March, around his birthday. She said he came to the house again in July and they had sexual intercourse several times while her parents weren’t home and again on July 24.

When detectives served a search warrant at Hoyt’s house, they recovered evidence linking him to the crime.

Recovered evidence also led investigators to a 14-year-old girl who is also a victim.

Because of that, his arrest was not immediately made public, Navarro said. Charges are pending in that case.

“In this investigation there is no question that this alleged predator knew the victim’s age because he drove her to her middle school and dropped her off,” Navarro said.

Anyone with information on Hoyt may call Detective Jason Wilson at 395-8110.

August 15, 2009
State prison employee arrested, suspected of Internet luring
Mike Peters, The Tribune

FORT LUPTON — Fort Lupton police arrested another online sexual predator suspect Thursday, a man who turned out to be a state prison guard.

James F. Clark, 53, of Colorado Springs is employed at the Limon Correctional Facility. He’s been charged with Internet luring of a child and sexual exploitation of a child, both felony charges.

Chief Ron Grannis of Fort Lupton said Clark drove from Colorado Springs to Fort Lupton to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Detective Crystal Schwartz of the Fort Lupton police had been communicating with Clark for some time on the Internet.

“These chats became very explicit and sexual in nature,” Grannis said in a written release. “Clark indicated several times that he wanted to meet with the girl, however upon his arrival to Fort Lupton, he was met by police. Mr. Clark had brought a camera with him to take pictures of the child.”

Grannis complimented Schwartz for the seventh arrest she’s made involving sexual predators. The chief added he was shocked that the suspect was another law enforcement officer.

Earlier this year, a Colorado State Patrol trooper out of Denver was arrested on the same charges by Fort Lupton police. Other cases by Schwartz include a Fort Carson soldier and a Transportation Security Administration officer from Denver International Airport.

Fort Lupton police said they will continue to investigate Internet predators of children, and Schwartz will continue to work the cases.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said they placed Clark on paid administrative leave Friday, pending a hearing. Colorado personnel regulations state the employee must be on paid leave until he’s had a hearing.

Clark was booked into the Weld County Jail and is being held on $75,000 bond.

August 17, 2009
Undercover sting knocks child predators offline

HOWELL — Attorney General Mike Cox’s office and Livingston County Sheriff Robert Bezotte today announced the results of an undercover Internet child predator sting in Howell from Aug.14-16. The sting resulted in the immediate arrest of nine men who attempted to engage in sexual activity after targeting who they thought were children online.

The predators were arrested by agents from the Attorney General’s office and Livingston County Sheriff Deputies at or near a decoy home in the Howell area after engaging in sexually explicit Internet chats with undercover agents posing as children.

All defendants who traveled to have sex with a child were charged with Child Sexually Abusive Activity and a similar charge of using a computer to commit that offense, both felonies. Additional counts are charged if the defendant sent pornographic images to the undercover agents. The Attorney General’s office will handle the prosecutions in court.

Additional arrests are likely for individuals who transmitted sexually explicit material, but did not travel to the decoy location. “The message for predators is loud and clear,” said Cox. “We are watching.

If you attempt to target a child, we will take you offline.” Prior to this operation, Cox’s office had already arrested 236 Internet predators after creating one of the first Internet child protection units in the nation.

The defendants from this operation are all males, ranging in age from 24 to 53. Over half of the nine are from Southeastern Michigan, while one came from Grand Rapids and the other from Columbus, Ohio. The defendants were all willing to travel for sex with a child despite long distances or lack of personal transportation, with two taking cabs to the location.

Many predators mentioned in their chats that they feared being caught in a sting situation and declined to come to the home, asking to meet at near by locations instead. This change in tactics indicates that previous Attorney General stings have had an effect on predators who in the previous stings regularly and boldly entered decoy homes with the intent to abuse children. However, Attorney General Cox notes that predator chat activity online remained very active and aggressive during this operation, so parents must take the lead role in monitoring their children’s Internet activities to keep them safe.

“This is a reminder for parents that the Internet is being used by predators to target our children,” said Cox. “Parents must be monitoring what their kids are doing online and talk often with them about the dangers of communicating with people they don’t know and trust.” Those arrested are:

• George William Allen, 53, of Detroit; a retired City of Detroit police officer who counseled the undercover agent on how to avoid saving chat logs and threatened to kill himself if turned in. Allen was arrested at a nearby fast food restaurant parking lot.
• John Deleo Custer, 40, of Clawson; a grocery store clerk who took a cab from Oakland County to the decoy location, later arriving at the home on foot. He was arrested outside the home.
• Jason Jerome Lombardo, 37, of Eastpointe; a music D.J., was arrested by officers at a fast-food restaurant parking lot.
• Michael Thomas Krauss, 49, of LaSalle (Monroe County); a security guard who was arrested upon entering the decoy home.
• Dipankar Roy, 29, of Columbus, Ohio; reported that he is an Indian citizen in the United States for about a month as a software programmer. Reported that he took a cab to the decoy home after taking a bus from Columbus to Detroit.
• Timothy John Fitzhugh, 47, of Grand Rapids; also arrested by authorities at a fast-food restaurant parking lot while carrying condoms, lubricant and pornographic videos.
• Robert Joseph Smith, 24, of Flint.
• Ronald Alan Blake, of Flint.
• Ashish Jain, 29, of Rochester Hills.

Arraignment of the defendants, which started over the weekend, should be completed today at the 53rd District Court in Howell. Bond for each will likely by set at $200,000 and the defendants may not be online or have unsupervised contact with minors. Hearing dates will be determined later today.

August 18, 2009
Week-Long Predator Sting Nets Three Arrests

The Shawnee County DA’s Office says a week-long sting to catch internet predators wrapped up Monday. It resulted in three arrests.

Topeka (WIBW) – Area law enforcement wrapped up an undercover sting operation Monday designed to nab internet predators.

The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office coordinated the effort. The District Attorney’s Office says it led to three arrests, with charges already filed against one of the suspects.

DA Chad Taylor says 24-year old Patrick Johnson of Topeka is charged with two counts of electronic solicitation of a child under the age of fourteen. He was taken into custody August 13 and is being held on $75,000 bond.

Also arrested in the sting were 39-year old Nasir Manzur of Wichita and 19-year old Nathan Gerum of Wausau, Wisconsin. They were arrested separately on August 14 and both are being held on $250,000 bond on charges of electronic solicitation of a child under the age of fourteen.

The DA’s office says charged against Manzur and Gerum must be filed by 4 pm Wednesday, August 18.

The week-long sting operation took place from a southeast Topeka home. Law enforcement officers chatted online with potential suspects.

More than 60 law enforcement officers were involved. In addition to the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, agencies involved were the Topeka Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office.

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