Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday #72
Another week and another round-up of dirtbags nabbed for trying to solicit kids online. This week we have three stooges:
- A 21-year-old Airman based in Utah has been charged after allegedly asking a 12-year-old Colorado girl to send naked pictures of herself over the Internet.
- A 62-year-old man in Illinois is accused of trying to solicit sex with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl over the Internet via chatroom.
- A 32-year-old Louisiana former disc jockey (DJ Skinny) has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for using the internet to lure underage girls for sex.
Over the holidays this year, as you purchase new PCs for the house, please make sure they are properly outfitted with PC Pandora monitoring software. Trust me, you really have no idea what your kids are doing online. Exploring the internet is natural and should be somewhat encouraged to do freely; but turning your back on your child’s activity is just downright stupid… not to mention dangerous. Be aware of where they go and who they talk to. There is no reason not to know…
December 18, 2009
Utah airman charged in Jeffco Internet exploitation case
By Howard Pankratz, The Denver PostAn airman based at Hill Air Force Base in Utah has been charged after allegedly asking a 12-year-old Jefferson County girl to send naked pictures of herself over the Internet.
Charged with one count of Internet sexual exploitation of a child and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child is 21-year-old Aaron Balmor Chavez.
According to a release from the the Jefferson County district attorney’s office, the 12-year-old girl told a teacher at her school that someone she met on the Internet asked her to send him naked pictures of herself.
Golden police were called to the school to investigate. At that point the Jefferson County DA’s office and military police in Utah launched a joint investigation.
According to court records, the girl was on a social networking site called “Myyearbook.com” on Dec. 3 when she received a message from a man named “Mike.”
Mike’s online profile said he was 15, but during their online chat he told the girl he was 19.
During the conversation, Chavez allegedly asked the child to send him the naked photos.
According to Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey, the school resource officer at the Golden school had recently presented an Internet safety program to the students.
“The young girl in this case did all the right things,” Storey said in a statement. “She told a trusted adult – her teacher. We spend a great deal of our resources trying to get safety messages out to kids before they communicate with strangers or send sexual photos to anybody over the Internet.”
Chavez was arrested last Friday and is awaiting extradition to Colorado.
December 19, 2009
Mahomet man pleads innocent to soliciting minor
By Mary SchenkPEORIA – A Mahomet man accused of trying to solicit sex with a minor over the Internet is tentatively scheduled to be tried in February on federal charges.
Donald Brucker, 62, appeared in U.S. District Court in Peoria Thursday with Champaign attorney Jim Martinkus and entered a plea of innocent.
He was released on bond on the condition that he stay at home on electronic monitoring except to go to work, church, the doctor, court or to see an attorney. His trial date was set for Feb. 22 before U.S. District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade.
Brucker was charged, in a complaint filed Tuesday, with attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. Penalties upon conviction range from 10 years to life in prison on the more serious charge of trying to entice a minor to have sex.
According to an affidavit in support of the complaint, Brucker began corresponding in mid-October via an Internet chat room with a girl he thought was 15.
The girl was actually a 20-year employee of the Peoria County sheriff’s department assigned to the Central Illinois Cybercrime Unit in Peoria.
The chats were sexual and included Brucker sending the girl sexually suggestive pictures of himself and requesting pictures of the girl.
“I hope your (sic) deleting our chat, so your Mom never finds out,” one of his posts read.
The exchanges continued through November and December, with Brucker making reference to the fact that she was “not of age.”
The affidavit said Brucker arranged to meet the girl in Peoria at a restaurant on Monday. About 3 p.m., he was confronted by Secret Service agents who arrested him. In his truck was found a laptop computer and an unopened package of condoms.
In an interview at the U.S. attorney’s office in Peoria, Brucker admitted he had been having an conversation with a 15-year-old girl he met online, that the chats were sexual in nature and that he knew what he was doing was wrong, the affidavit said.
Other conditions of Brucker’s release, imposed by Magistrate Judge John Gorman, include that Brucker put filtering software on his computer that blocks access to any sexually oriented Web sites, have no contact with anyone under 18, and submit to inspections of his home and computer by probation officers.
December 21, 2009
DJ Skinny gets 10 years for soliciting minorsA former Shreveport radio disc jockey for KTUX-FM has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for using the internet to lure underage girls for sex, according to United States Attorney’s office news release Monday.
Heath Edward Hill, 32, pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and enticement Sept. 17 and was sentenced Friday, the release states.
An undercover operation began after Caddo sheriff’s deputies learned that an underage girl and her underage friend had been sexually solicited online via MySpace messages from a “DJ Skinny,” according to the release.
Hill, whose on-air name was DJ Skinny, asked the girls for nude pictures in exchange for alcohol and concert tickets made available through his work as a disc jockey on 99X The Rock Station.
The girls handed over access to their MySpace accounts and agents with the Northwest Louisiana Crimes Against Children Task Force pretending to be the girls intercepted solicitations by Hill.
Hill showed up to meet the girls at a prearranged point and was instead arrested.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the sexual exploitation of children, the release states.
