Tag: solicitation of a minor

  • Nick Govind waives hearing

    Nick Govind waives hearing

    Accused Internet solicitor waives right:

    Recently, I told you about some “gentlemen” that were arrested for trying to solicit underage girls on craigslist. One of them, Nilesh “Nick” Govind, has decided to get things over with…

    REDWOOD CITY  Opting to go straight to trial, a San Carlos man accused of using the Internet to solicit teen girls for sex waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
    Nilesh “Nick” Govind, 28, is charged with one count of attempting to commit a lewd act with a minor.

    A local parent tipped off police to the ad, prompting Belmont police to set up a sting operation on March 10. It was during that sting operation that Govind allegedly offered a Belmont police investigator  who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Amber  $200 in exchange for performing specific sex acts.

    Govind has no known prior arrests and is not a registered sex offender, police said.

    Govind was released from custody on a $75,000 bail bond. He will return to court on Sept. 12 for his superior court arraignment.

    If convicted, he faces up to 18 months in prison.

    I could almost respect him because it sounds like he’s owning up to his crime if it wasn’t for the fact that he was trying to solicit underage girls.

     

  • Predators use craigslist

    Predators use craigslist

    Police target online predators:

    Did they really think this would work?

    REDWOOD CITY — Recent arrests of online predators using the Internet to solicit teens for sex has local law enforcement agencies advising parents to keep tabs on their children while they are surfing the World Wide Web.

    San Carlos resident Nilesh “Nick” Govind, 28; San Jose resident Julio Cesar Barbery, 25; and Pacifica resident James John Koch, Jr., 48, have all recently been arrested on charges of attempting to solicit sex from teenage girls over the Internet.

    Nilesh Govind allegedly placed an ad on the Craigslist.org Web site offering money to “Carlmont/Notre Dame” high school girls willing to meet him and be his “girlfriend” for an hour, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

    A local parent tipped off police to the ad in early March, prompting the Belmont Police Department to set up a sting operation on March 10. It was during that sting operation that Govind allegedly offered a Belmont police investigator, who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Amber, $200 in exchange for performing specific sex acts.

    It was an anonymous informant who led San Mateo County sheriff’s investigators to a Craigslist ad titled “Daddy seeking young girl right now,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed by San Mateo County Sheriff’s Det. Jacqueline Chong.

    According to the affidavit, the informant visited the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist after watching a television news special dealing with sexual predators on the Internet.

    From late June to July 5, the adult informant, who identified herself as a 17-year-old girl named Natalie, traded e-mails with the ad’s alleged author, James Koch. In a series of e-mails Koch allegedly told Natalie he wanted to meet her, forwarding descriptions of the sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the girl. He reportedly sent the informant photos of his face and his body from the waist down, according to the affidavit.

    The informant later told Koch that Natalie was only 15, however, once reassured that Natalie was not a police officer, Koch agreed to meet her. Koch was arrested July 6 at the Vista rest stop off Interstate Highway 280 in San Carlos while allegedly waiting to meet Natalie.

    It was on March 29 that Menlo Park police officers arrested Julio Barbery after he allegedly engaged in a sexual conversation over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl, according to San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Greg Devitt.

    Who knew that you could find creepers in the classifieds?

     

  • Jason Benge

    Jason Benge

    Jefferson County Sheriff: Ft. Drum Soldier Used MySpace to Solicit Teens for Sex:

    Here we go again…

    Jefferson County (WSYR-TV) – A 27-year-old Fort Drum soldier thought he was meeting up for sex with a teen, but he was arrested by an undercover Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy instead.

    27-year-old Jason Scott Benge of Flower Avenue East is charged with third degree attempted rape and third degree criminal solicitation.

    The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department says Benge used MySpace.com to setup a meeting with a 15-year-old and her 16-year-old friend for sex. Benge didn’t know, however, that the 15-year-old was a detective with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. Benge allegedly sent explicit emails to the fake teen. Some were also sent from Ft. Drum, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Fort Drum Military Police helped in the investigation.

    Benge was arrested when he tried to meet up with the fake teen, by the Sheriff’s Department.

    He has been sent to the Jefferson County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

    Apparently, someone either set up a fake MySpace or vandalized Benge’s MySpace. Because it now says, “I’m in jail because i’m a sick pervert!!!”. Ex-girlfriend perhaps?

  • Neil Jaramillo a.k.a. Schnail

    Neil Jaramillo a.k.a. Schnail

    MySpace used to `lure’ girl, 13:

    This one was all Mr. A

    He advertised himself on MySpace.com as a “gay Toronto boy” who is a “sweet person” and easy to talk to, but police allege “Schnail” was an online sexual predator who traded child porn and convinced a 13-year-old small-town Ontario girl to perform sex acts on her webcam.

    After laying four charges last week against the 23-year-old man, police added four more yesterday, including Internet luring and making child pornography. It appears to be the first case in Canada involving MySpace and an alleged sexual predator.

    The short, heavy-set man who police allege is “Schnail” appeared for a bail hearing yesterday at the Old City Hall courthouse. He was granted release if his bail conditions are met and he is to return to court July 20.

    Police say they tracked the man down on MySpace, a free website that allows users to customize their own Web pages, with pictures and a “friends list,” links to their profiles and other personal information they wish to post.

    In the Toronto case, police allege “Schnail” set up a profile on MySpace and exchanged information with dozens of other users. The 13-year-old girl from southwestern Ontario first made contact with him through a friend, who had the profile on MySpace.

    The friend listened to, and liked, some of his musical postings. On his profile, “Schnail” says he plays guitar and loves Nirvana. In the “detail” section of his profile, he says he is “here for dating, serious relationships, friends,” of which he counted 27, according to his online links.

    The path that led police to “Schnail” is a confusing and complicated web of make-believe identities and other falsehoods, and is a lesson not just to the young people who use the Internet but also to those who assume their misdeeds will go undetected in cyberspace.

    It began after a 45-year-old Montana man named Jimmy Dean Carpenter was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison for sexually abusing three girls, ages 7, 13 and 14.

    He also documented his sick exploits, capturing pornographic images and distributing them online.

    Police allege one recipient was “Schnail,” who believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl when it was actually Carpenter, who sent several images of himself with the 13-year-old in December 2003. In two of the images, she was holding a sign stating: “This is for Schnail,” police say.

    Using the email address taken from Carpenter’s computer, investigators with the Toronto sex crimes unit then posed as two adolescent girls, one 12, the other 13, to make contact with “Schnail.”

    Police allege he then sent one officer five child pornographic images, that of the Ontario girl, who is now 15, unaware that “Schnail,” who claimed to be 20, was saving the images, said Det. Const. Chris Purchas of the unit’s child exploitation section.

    Police allege “Schnail” sent the pictures to coax the officer into posing on a webcam, to show “we should do this … (it’s) normal. Here’s proof.”

    Claiming to be gay is another ruse commonly used, Purchas said, since it suggests he is a “safe” contact.

    Purchas said the girl’s mother was devastated to find out her daughter had been talked into posing for pictures on her webcam. He said he worries parents don’t fully realize the dangers that exist on the Internet.

    Neil David Jaramillo, 23, was arrested last Wednesday at his parents’ home in Toronto.

    He was initially charged with luring a child under 14, invitation to sexual touching, possession of child pornography and distributing child pornography. Yesterday he was charged with four additional child-porn offences.

    In Mr. A’s own words, here is the “gay” Neil Jaramillo, and here is the “straight” Neil Jaramillo.

  • Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Man accused in MySpace luring agrees to plead guilty:

    This is a follow-up to the story of Michael Ramos, the man who was stung by a group of teenage boys…

    FONTANA – A man arrested after traveling to a park to allegedly have sex with an imaginary girl conjured up by teens on MySpace.com agreed to a very real deal with prosecutors on Wednesday.

    Fontana resident Michael Ramos, 48, was taken into custody in early March after trying to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Jessica. He’d been chatting with ‘her’ for weeks on MySpace.

    The girl actually was a fake account set up by a group of boys looking to cheer up a friend who recently had broken up with a girlfriend.

    After the boys spied on Ramos at the park, they called police, who arrested him.

    On Wednesday, Ramos agreed to plead guilty to one count of an attempted lewd act with a child aged 14 or 15 and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

    He will be sentenced July 26, at which time a judge will rule on the details of the plea as well as a probation officer’s recommendations, said Prosecutor Karen Martinez of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

    Other terms of the agreement that could be imposed include five years of probation and a list of prohibited search terms on his home computer, she said.

    There’s a link to his MySpace on the original entry, and it’s still up.

  • Jay Coffield

    Jay Coffield

    Police say man arranged sex with girl, 14, on Myspace:

    NAPERVILLE — Naperville police have arrested another man accused of soliciting sex from a teenage girl on the popular social networking Web site Myspace.com.

    Jay D. Coffield, 44, of Morris was arrested about 6:15 p.m. Friday in a Naperville coffee shop where he had planned to meet the girl, 14, police said.

    Coffield, who used the screen name “Mistercee42” on Myspace.com, was charged with felony indecent solicitation of a child, and was taken to the Will County Jail in Joliet.

    Police were alerted to Coffield by a relative of the girl, who said the man had tried to set up a meeting with her.

    Police then had several online chats with Coffield and set up the encounter at the coffee shop. Coffield had planned to meet the girl there Friday night and take her to the DuPage River Park and engage in sex, police said.

    Here is his MySpace. (Not Safe For Work) He has a video of some camgirl doing a striptease and under who he’d like to meet it says “I’d love to hear from anyone and everyone! All people of all age groups are welcome.”

    Obviously.

    This is the second arrest in so many weeks in Naperville, Ill. The last one was John Wentworth.

  • John R. Wentworth

    John R. Wentworth

    2nd accuser in abuse case tied to Web site:

    I told you about John R. Wentworth briefly before. At the time, he was alleged to have inappropriate contact with at least 3 underage girls. Well, another victim has come forward…

    NAPERVILLE — Investigators said a second accuser has come forward in the case of a Naperville man who allegedly used a popular Web site to contact teenage girls for sex, police said Friday.

    John R. Wentworth, 27, was arrested May 9 near the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville where he allegedly had gone to meet whom he thought would be a 14-year-old girl.

    A DuPage County Grand Jury indicted Wentworth on a felony charge of indecent solicitation of a child and distribution of harmful materials. Wentworth also was charged with attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

    Naperville police said the sex abuse charges are from contact Wentworth had with a 15-year-old Naperville girl. He had a Web page on MySpace.com where he posted sexually explicit photos of himself, police said.

    The Naperville Police Internet Crimes Unit continues to investigate and wants to speak to anyone who had contact with Wentworth. His screen name was “Johnwinter78” on MySpace.com and AOL instant messenger.

    The telephone number for the unit is 630-305-5384.

  • Patrick Buss re-arrested

    Patrick Buss re-arrested

    MySpace predator suspect faces new charges:

    Patrick Buss, who was arrested back in April for trying to lure teenage girls to a motel room, has been arrested again…

    A Hubbard, Ore., man, arrested late last month for allegedly arranging to meet two high school girls at a LaPine motel was arrested Friday at the Deschutes County Courthouse on new, more serious charges involving a Tillamook County victim.

    Patrick Nicholas Buss was taken into custody when he showed up at Circuit Judge Ed Perkins’ courtroom for arraignment on the original charges that included computer crime, contributing to the sexual abuse of a minor and third-degree charges of attempted sex abuse, attempted rape and attempted sodomy.

    The new charges include two third-degree counts each of rape, sex abuse and sodomy, as well as furnishing alcohol to a minor and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

    The investigation led to discovery of an additional victim in the Tillamook area, Edwards said Friday. At the request of Tillamook County authorities, sheriff’s detectives contacted Buss and took him into custody on the Tillamook County charges. He was lodged in the county jail, pending transport to Tillamook County.

    Again, here and here are Buss’ MySpace profiles. He’s still getting comments from girls even after his initial arrest. I wonder if some vigilante commenting is in order.

  • Patrick Buss

    Patrick Buss

    MySpace predator suspect caught in LaPine:

    A 24-year-old Hubbard, Ore. man was arrested after knocking on the door of a LaPine motel room, allegedly to meet two high school girls he chatted up in sexually explicit fashion at the online site MySpace.com, police said Friday.

    Patrick Nicholas Buss was lodged in the Deschutes County Jail in Bend on several charges but released early Friday on his own recognizance, pending a court date next month, officials said.

    Last month, two LaPine High students contacted the sheriff’s school resource officer and reported receiving sexually explicit e-mails from an unknown man at MySpace.com, said sheriff’s Capt. Tim Edwards.

    The contact initially was only “friendly conversation, but changed to sexually explicit language over the course of a few weeks,” Edwards said.

    Sheriff’s detectives began an investigation and identified the man as Buss, the captain said.

    Buss allegedly made arrangements to come to LaPine “for the purpose of having sexual contact with the girls,” Edwards said in a news release.

    Thursday evening, Buss allegedly knocked on a motel room door “where he believed one of the girls was present, but instead was (greeted) by sheriff’s detectives who took him into custody without incident,” Edwards said.

    Early Friday, Deschutes County sheriff’s detectives raided Buss’s home in Hubbard, a small town between Salem and Portland, and seized additional evidence, Edwards said.

    Buss was lodged in the Bend jail on charges of computer crime, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and third-degree charges of attempted sex abuse, attempted rape and attempted sodomy, Edwards said.

    But a jail officer said he was released from the crowded jail Friday morning on his own recognizance pending a May 19 court date.

    And we have two MySpace profiles for Buss, here and here.

    Welcome to the Rogues Gallery, Paddy.

  • Yet another Creeper solicits a cop

    Yet another Creeper solicits a cop

    Deputy: Solicitation suspect said age didn’t matter:

    This time it’s in Missouri…

    A Bollinger County sheriff’s deputy testified in court Tuesday that a Jackson man arrested in an undercover police sting for soliciting sex with an underage girl had told the minor “age didn’t matter.”

    Following a preliminary hearing before Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp, Irvin E. Holderbaugh Jr., 40, was bound over to circuit court on charges of attempted statutory rape.

    During the hearing, Bollinger County deputy Kevin Otte said the defendant solicited a 14-year-old girl, who was actually an undercover officer, over the Internet.

    “He would like to have her and age didn’t matter,” Otte said of the defendant.

    The Bollinger County Sheriff’s Department set up a profile of a 14-year-old girl on the Web site MySpace.com, with a picture of a 21-year-old Bollinger County sheriff’s dispatcher when she was 18 years old posing as the minor.

    Holderbaugh began chatting with the girl online and sent her 10 pictures of himself, five of which were pornographic, Otte said.

    On March 11, the two arranged to meet at Jackson’s City Park to later have sex, according to Otte.

    And here’s the really sick part…

    As Holderbaugh began walking toward the dispatcher, police arrested him. During a search, officers found seven condoms, 11 Viagra pills, and a boxcutter knife on his person, Otte said.

    It’s scary to think what he might have planned with that box cutter.

    And thanks to the ever reliable Mr. A, we have what, we believe, is Holderbaugh’s MySpace profile. Here we have another case where a predator’s friends list consists mainly of porn stars. I have nothing against porn per se, but if your entire life revolves around porn than you may have a problem.