CO- Many of 64 suspects looking for cheap thrills seemed like the guy next door

5-3-2008 Colorado:

To people who knew him, 32-year-old Charlie Speridakos of Lynn, Mass., was the guy who made pizzas at the local pizza shop.

Speridakos, like the 11 others caught in Mesa County’s Internet sex sting, seemed like just another regular guy with a job and possibly a family. What those who knew him didn’t know was these men in their free time trolled the Internet in search of cheap thrills from young girls.

“It’s just across the board,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Tammy Eret said. “I think that’s what is so scary. You never know who the predator is. Lots of times it’s your neighbor, the guy next door — someone who you would never expect.”

Mesa County investigators got more than they bargained for when they cast a net in March 2007 and caught 64 suspects in the United States and several other countries accused of attempting to lure children over the Internet into having sex.

The dozen suspects authorities have since filed charges against range in age from 21 to 58. Those caught include a soldier, a government worker, fathers, a teacher, a nurse and an aspiring law-enforcement officer.

They logged in with chat names such as “bebad4dad” and “hardcandy4fun.” One man traveled hundreds of miles across the Rockies and carried condoms and alcohol in anticipation of meeting a teenage girl at Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park, Other suspects flashed genitalia and performed sex acts on Web cameras and asked perceived young girls to do the same.

“Parents need to be aware that wherever kids go, predators go,” Eret said of Internet social networking sites.

Ten investigators spent five 10-hour days in early March 2007 in Internet chat rooms pretending to be 14-year-old girls.

Investigators were instructed to go where the conversations escalated to sexually explicit talk.

Eret said investigators chatted on sites such as Yahoo and MySpace. They created profiles as 11- and 12-year-old girls and as young boys, but got the most response when they pretended to be 14-year-old girls.

Eret said that more suspects from the sting will be prosecuted in Mesa County. One of the investigations from the sting led to a more serious case of sex assault on a child, and it revealed another formerly undetected suspect.

Some of the cases are time consuming to prosecute because investigators have to physically retrieve the suspects’ computers.

Law enforcement in other jurisdictions where suspects have been caught decided to handle those cases, she said.

Eret said she’s pleased with the results of sentences from the Mesa County sting, which are more severe than sentences for similar crimes in other counties.

Many of the suspects now have to register as sex offenders for the remainder of their lives. Prison time is not applicable for defendants in sex sting operations because suspects aren’t physically sexually assaulting children.

“They’re labeled and registered (as sex offenders),” Eret said. “A lot of these defendants are getting evaluations and treatment that they need. I think that’s important.” ..News Source.. by Amy Hamilton