Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday #60!!
Posting this a bit late, but I back-dated it for Wednesday…
Couple of things to mention here:’
- POST #60!! That means I have been able to fill up 60 weekly posts with stories of internet predators being busted for luring kids… still think this is fear-mongering? Still think the Internet predators are a myth and fears are overblown and exaggerated… I beg to differ…
- I have split this particular post into 2 sections… first are the normal predators that got busted by police for attempted luring… the second batch are the guys who succeeded!
Remember, all stories are posted in full below with links to the news pages. And also remember I only do this to show you that these guys do exist… buy this week I have an extra message for y’all…
Okay, so here is a rundown of the scumbags nabbed by police for trying to solicit minors for sex.
- A local Texas police department recently concluded an online predator sting with the arrests of four men who engaged in sexually-explicit conduct with what they believed was a 13-year-old girl. The man ranged in age from 26 to 46…
- A 47-year-old man from Texas was sentenced to 76 months in prison for travel with intent to engage in sex with minors (two boys aged 8 and 13) and possession of child pornography…
- 15 men, ages ranging from 24 to 60, were arrested in Virginia in a sting operation targeting online predators chatting with juveniles. “Operation Safe Summer” was conducted between June and August of this year with sheriff’s department detectives visiting chat rooms posing as children between the ages of 12-14…. Didn’t take long for them to have a list of perverts to bust for enticing what they thought were kids for sex…
So those are the guys that were caught TRYING to solicit sex from minors… now, parents, perk your eyes up a bit as you read the following stories… Think your child is an angel? Think you just need to be afraid of the guys trying to get to your kids… think again! The following are a list of stories where young girls met older men online and CONSENTED to having sex with them. In many cases a relationship was carried out. Message here: you must know what your kids are doing online for their own sake. Kids will take stupid risks. Unless you are there to protect them, this will happen…
I could go on and on in a tangent that will only be construed as rhetoric and (according to experts) fear-mongering, but the bottom line is this – these teenage girls wanted to have sex with the older guys they met online. And NONE of the parents knew about it. Of course, they could have known, had they been monitoring their child’s internet activity… but I assure you, every parent of every child in the stories below believed that monitoring was “too much” and an “invasion of my kid’s privacy” and that something like this “would never happen to my kid”… well, guess again…
- In Canada, a 16-year-old girl testified ON BEHALF of the 24-year-old predator that she met online, that she led him to believe she was 14 (when they had sex she was 13) and that he made her feel safe… A good story for parents to read about how young girls will fall in love with older men online and do whatever they can to protect them – even testifying in court!
- A 15-year-old girl from New York met a 39-year-old man from Indiana online and left her babysitting gig early to run away with him. Fortunately, the kid she was babysitting for did the job of the parents and were snooping on her online chats… they informed police of everything and the girl was found. But the takeaway here is that she WANTED to run away with the guy!!!
- In a follow-up to this WIPW entry the 37-year-old Delaware man, who lured a 14-year-old girl into a meeting and then sex through a social networking Web site, admitted in federal court to the illegal transport of a minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity…
- A 26-year-old New York man met a 15-year-old New York girl on MySpace and had sex with her. She consented, as there are no allegations of force being used.
What more do you need? What other stories can I report to you that will make you realize this is a serious issue that should not be taken lightly? If you are a parent of a child that uses the Internet, you MUST MONITOR THEIR ONLINE ACTIVITY.
The Sugar Land Police Department recently concluded an online predator sting with the arrests of four men who engaged in sexually-explicit conduct with what they believed was a 13-year-old girl.
Arrested were Mathiyalagan Gopal, 26, of Plano; Paul Mahan, 37, of Friendswood; Wesley Bitner, 46, of Cypress and Sergio Herrera, 42, of Spring.
The arrests were the result of a summer-long investigation targeting child predators who engaged in sexually explicit and illegal conduct with children in Internet chat rooms. In each incident, the men participated in illegal sexually-oriented activity.
Gopal traveled to the Sugar Land area after soliciting sex; Mahan sent a sexually explicit photo of himself; Bitner sent sexually explicit material of himself and Herrera sent sexually explicit messages.
All were arrested and charged with online solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony with bond amounts ranging from $25,000 to $200,000.
The police department said it would continue to take a proactive approach on the Internet to keep area children safe.
They also recommended the following safety tips for parents:
- Investigate safeguarding programs or options online service providers offer. These include monitoring or filtering capabilities.
- Websites for children are not permitted to request personal information without a parent’s permission. Talk to children about what personal information is and why it should never be provided to people online.
- If children use chat or e-mail, talk to them about never meeting in person with anyone they first “met” online.
- Keep the computer in the family room or another open area of your home.
Children should also not complete a profile for a service provider and children’s screen names should be nondescript so as not to identify that the user is a child.
WASHINGTON – Patrick Cochran, 47, of Lake Jackson, Texas, was sentenced late on Monday in Phoenix to 76 months in prison for travel with intent to engage in sex with minors and possession of child pornography, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis K. Burke announced today.
In addition to the prison term, Cochran was sentenced to lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee of the District of Arizona.
Cochran was indicted on Dec. 5, 2007, in Phoenix on two counts of travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor. According to allegations contained in the indictment, Cochran paid a deposit and traveled to a pre-arranged meeting spot in Arizona in order to go on what he believed would be a tour of Mexico that would offer him the opportunity to have sexual contact with two boys aged 8 and 13. In reality, the tour was an undercover operation run by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Cochran was indicted on Jan. 20, 2009, in Houston on one count of possession of child pornography and one count of destruction of records. According to court documents, search warrants were executed at Cochran’s residence near Houston and child pornography was discovered on digital media seized from his home. Additionally, according to the court documents, when ICE agents returned to Cochran’s home to recover his computer, he told them he had thrown it away.
The Texas case against Cochran was transferred to Arizona for plea and sentencing. Cochran pleaded guilty on May 5, 2009, to one count of travel with intent to engage in sex with minors and one count of possession of child pornography. According to the plea agreements, Cochran admitted to arranging and paying to be taken to Mexico in order to have sex with two boys. Further, Cochran admitted to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS, with assistance from Senior Litigation Counsel Vincent Q. Kirby of the District of Arizona and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stabe of the Southern District of Texas. ICE conducted the investigation.
ICE maintains “Operation Predator,” an ongoing 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. ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.
September 22, 2009
4 local men charged in sting targeting online predators
By Mike HoltzclawA Hampton man and three others from South Hampton Roads were among 15 men who were either charged or indicted in a sting operation targeting online predators chatting with juveniles.
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office conducted “Operation Safe Summer” between June and August of this year, visiting chat rooms posing as children between the ages of 12-14.
Steve Flanagan, a 60-year-old Hampton man, was charged in the sting, as well as Ryan Earley, 24, of Virginia Beach, and Norfolk residents Andrew Vought, 36, and Keith Delucenay, 46. All four were charged with use of a computer to solicit sexual acts of a minor and indecent liberties with a minor.
The other men charged or indicted were Manessah Igbonosa, 29, of Alexandria; Timothy Strosnider, 45, of Maurertown; Robert Shelby, 34, of Herndon; Christopher Hullihan, 39, of Stephens City; Steven Kuehnl, 28, of Glen Burnie, Md.; Robert Dove, 29, of Bridgewater; David Cunningham, 53, of Buckingham; John A. Smith, 29, of Ashburn; Ira Alper, 25, of Lorton; Gary DeBriella, 26, of Fairfax; and Wayne C. Allen, 66, of Nellysford.
OTTAWA — A teenage girl who says she kissed and engaged in sexual acts with a Toronto man she met over the Internet when she was 13 years old testified that she led him to believe she was actually 14 — the legal age of consent in Canada at the time.
Testifying in the sexual-assault and child-luring trial of Bogdan Dragos, the girl, now 16, said she met the then-24-year-old in his Ottawa hotel room on Jan. 19, 2007, and willingly engaged in the sexual acts, which included naked fondling, masturbation and digital penetration, before they were interrupted by the police.
“I actually felt safe with him. He didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to,” the teenager told a detective in a videotaped interview that was played in court Thursday.
Dragos, 26, has pleaded not guilty to more than half a dozen charges, including sexual assault, abduction, child luring and possession of child pornography.
A slightly stocky man with a short chin beard and receding hairline, Dragos sat with his head hung in the front row as the teenager testified in court.
According to the girl, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban, the two wanted to meet each other following four-and-a-half months of instant messages and phone conversations that occurred after they met in an Internet chat room days after her 13th birthday.
The teen testified Dragos initially told her he was 18, but she said she knew he wasn’t telling the truth after seeing a picture of him. He later told her he was 24 and she told him she was 14.
Despite her concern about Dragos’ age, the teen admitted on cross-examination that she took steps to make it appear she was older than she really was. That included using highly sexualized language in their chats and telling him she dated older guys and wasn’t a virgin.
“The reason you felt it necessary to make yourself seem you were 14 is because Mr. Dragos would not have been interested in you if you were 13, correct?” Dragos’ lawyer, Oliver Abergel, asked.
“Yep,” replied the teen, who later told assistant Crown attorney Carl Lem that Dragos never asked her real age.
“He never really asked me how old I was, so I kept saying I was 14,” she said. “If he had asked me, I probably would have told him.”
The teenager’s mother testified she warned Dragos to stay away from her daughter after becoming suspicious about repeated long-distance calls to his Toronto apartment.
“You know that she’s underage, way underage,” the mother testified she told Dragos.
But on cross-examination, the mother said she never told Dragos her daughter’s actual age and would have given him the same warning even if her daughter had been above the legal age of consent, which at the time was 14. It has since been raised to 16.
“You weren’t trying to get across the message, ‘Listen, pal, she’s eight months too young to be having sex with’,” Abergel asked.
“I was the mom, I wasn’t the lawyer,” she said.
The teenager testified Dragos broke off communication with her following the phone call from her mother, but she contacted him and the two agreed to carry on their relationship in secret.
The teenager said it was her idea that Dragos get the hotel room.
Court heard the teen slipped out of the house to meet Dragos after telling her mom she was going to a friend’s house. Her mother testified police were called when her daughter couldn’t be found.
Using computer monitoring software, they discovered e-mails containing the address of the hotel. The teenager testified Thursday that after leaving her house, she went to the Embassy Hotel and Suites and called up to Dragos’ room.
He invited her in, and they sat on the bed watching cartoons on TV between sessions of heavy kissing, fondling and the other sexual acts. She said he attempted to have sex with her, but stopped when she told him it didn’t feel comfortable.
The trial continues Monday.
When it comes to keeping kids safe from Internet predators , authorities say parental involvement is key.
On Sept. 10, a 15-year-old girl from Hyde Park was reported missing. Police in Indiana found her 12 hours later with a 39-year-old man she met on the Internet. That man, Foster Creager Jr. of Angola, Ind., now faces charges of second-degree kidnapping.
Michael Brown of Staatsburg said the girl had been baby-sitting for his children when she arranged to be picked up by Creager.
Brown’s children, Michael, 11, Donnalynn, 8, and Matthew, 6, had snooped on their baby sitter’s online activity and were able to tell police with whom she disappeared.
“They knew about it the whole time, but they didn’t know to speak up until police got involved,” he said.
The girl had told Brown she needed to do something with her mother at 5 p.m., so he arranged for a second sitter to take over. When her mother called later that evening, they realized she was missing.
Brown said his children were up until 1 a.m. that night talking to police. “They told them the name of the guy and pointed out a picture of him,” he said. “My kids said right away that she ‘went to Indiana with this man’ … they were even able to tell police what kind of car it was.”
Brown said he has told his kids, “If something doesn’t look right, tell an adult.”
With his oldest son, he watches the news and crime shows like A&E’s “The First 48″ and discusses it with him afterward. And his wife, Jennifer Brown, spends lots of “together” time with the kids.
“That’s how they know what they know,” he said.
But that night, “They learned a very serious and valuable lesson,” he said.
Keeping kids safe from Internet predators is also a task local police take very seriously. Town of Poughkeepsie Community Policing Officer Ralph Cropley gets lots of questions from parents and grandparents about Internet safety.
Cropley said he tells them to make sure the child feels comfortable talking about the Internet.
Parents can buy programs that monitor or limit a child’s Internet use. However, “it’s more important to keep those lines of communication open,” he said.
Rob Rolison, a retired town detective who worked on sex offender issues, agrees.
“Teenagers are very resourceful. They’re going to get access to the Internet one way or the other. No parent can supervise their child all the time,” he said. “The main thing is, you have to talk to them.
“Social media is a great tool, but there are things we always need to be cautious about. For instance, communicating with people we wouldn’t normally talk to face to face,” he said.
“If all of a sudden a new friend pops up, or a new name you’re not familiar with, you need to be very skeptical of these things,” he said.
Also, pay attention to other warning signs, such as if a child suddenly becomes secretive . “You can fall victim to someone and not even know it’s happening,” he said.
“Sex offenders, most of the time, are not snatching people off the street. They’ll take their time. They’re very methodical and they do things in a way that is not easily recognizable by the potential victim,” Rolison said.
“People who are taking a particular interest in your children – chances are there’s something wrong with that,” he said. “You can’t be as trusting as you want to be. You’re better off being skeptical of everything until you’re proven wrong.”
Also, if someone is being physically or mentally abused, the likelihood of them falling prey is increased – that applies to any negative social behavior, Rolison said.
“When their life is in turmoil, other bad things can happen to them,” he said.
As a school resource officer, Deputy T.J. Hanlon of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office talks to children and families about Internet safety. The Sheriff’s Office also works closely with the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and state police investigators to solve Internet crimes, he said.
But “more people are molested by trusted friends, relatives, et cetera than by strangers,” he said. “People instinctively know to be afraid of strangers, but they don’t know to be afraid of ‘Uncle Ted’ or ‘Aunt Sally,’ ” he said.
In the case of online predators , “typically it’s just innocuous contact over long periods of time until a pseudo -relationship develops,” he said. “When we talk to people online, we tend to create an image of them in our minds, instead of what they really are.”
The upside for police is that most online activity is recorded – whether it’s on a hard drive or cell phone.
“Every case is different,” he said. “But it’s difficult to hide your tracks completely.”
WILMINGTON — A 37-year-old Wilmington man, who police said lured a 14-year-old girl into a meeting and then sex through a social networking Web site, admitted Monday in federal court to the illegal transport of a minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity.
David Hart acknowledged that he drove a Pennsylvania teenager that he met through MySpace.com to his home in Wilmington to have sex with her.
He now faces a minimum mandatory 10 years behind bars and possibly up to life in prison when he is sentenced in three to four months by District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr.
Hart is also still facing rape and kidnapping charges in New Castle County Superior Court, but attorneys said in court that the state’s part of the case is expected to be resolved through a plea deal next week.
The exact terms of that plea deal were not disclosed.
At Monday’s federal proceedings, Hart hesitated when Farnan asked him to describe, in his own words, what he had done.
When Farnan asked Hart if he knew the girl’s age, he stepped away from the lectern for several minutes to consult with his attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian Crockett.
When he returned, he said he didn’t know the victim’s age “at first” but later learned she was 14.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed McAndrew and court papers, Hart made contact with the girl from the Allentown, Pa., area on Dec. 27, 2008, through MySpace and a party line.
The two then followed up with private conversations on Hart’s cell phone where he convinced her to skip school on Jan. 6, 2009, and meet with him.
The girl and her 12-year-old brother then met Hart that morning, instead of getting on their school bus, and went with him to Wilmington.
At Hart’s Walnut Street home, he had sex with the 14-year-old while distracting the boy with a video game.
He then took the girl back home and called a relative to delete his MySpace page to cover his tracks, according to court papers.
The girl’s guardian, however, found out about the meeting because the 14-year-old had been reported absent from school.
Deputy Attorney General Allison Texter, who is prosecuting Hart in state court, was in the courtroom to watch Monday’s proceedings and said her office is working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s office on the matter.
September , 2009
Cops: Potsdam Man Used MySpace To Meet Rape VictimPOTSDAM—A Potsdam man has been charged with rape after he allegedly utilized the social networking website, myspace.com, to meet the alleged victim.
John E. Kutt Jr., 26, of Potsdam, has been charged with two counts of third degree rape, two counts of third degree criminal sexual act and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
There are no allegations that force was used. However, in New York State, a person under the age of 17 cannot legally consent to sexual relations.
State Police arrested Kutt on Sept. 20 after an investigation indicated he had engaged in sexual activities with a 15-year-old female on Sept. 18 and 19 at his home in the village of Potsdam.
Kutt was arraigned before the town of Potsdam Criminal Court and remanded to the St. Lawrence County Court in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bail bond.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:27 AM
When you just hit puberty it is easy for girls to fall in love. I am now 16years old and from the experience I went thorugh (one that you guys have writen down on your website) I have learnt my lesson. I know what is wrong and what is right. I can tell just by looking at someones face and seeing/hearing how they talk if they are a pedophile. Everyone makes mistakes but I honestly do not take back what I did because I would not be who I am now. I have way more respect to myself and I do not think of myself dating anyone older. I think when I was 13years old I wanted to just grow up as fast as possible but you only get a few years being a teenager so I am making the best out of it because people can not get younger, they can only get older.