Predator sentenced, parent acts responsible

Internet predator receives 17½ years:

Now, this is a story about how responsible parents act.

After a Naperville father noticed his daughter spending more time than usual on the Internet, he installed parental monitoring software to keep a closer eye on her.

His action last summer may have kept the 13-year-old girl out of a convicted sex offender’s clutches.

A Salt Lake City man was sentenced Tuesday to 17¨ years in federal prison in Utah for persuading the girl to send him sexually explicit photos of herself during three months of cyberspace chats and phone calls.

Gerald Lee Wheeler, 41, was arrested last year in Utah after a multi-agency investigation. He pleaded guilty March 26 to one count of production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory 15-year minimum sentence.

Prosecutors said Wheeler was trying to get the teen to meet him in New York for sex in exchange for a modeling contract. Fortunately, her father intervened before the girl was physically harmed.

Of course, Wheeler is a registered sex offender in Utah.

Anyway, do you see how easy it is to protect your kids? If not you shouldn’t be operating a computer in the first place.