MI- Local man faces 20 years following sex sting

3-16-2008 Michigan: (Phase-I)

DEARBORN - A Dearborn resident was one of 27 men arrested as part of an Internet sexual predator sting operation conducted March 7-9 by the Michigan Attorney General's Office, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and the Van Buren Township Police Department.

_______, 30, has been charged with child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to communicate with another to commit a crime. If convicted, the Dearborn resident could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

"Let this be a message to all those who would put children in harm's way — we're watching you," said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox in a press release.

All 27 men — 26 from Michigan and one from New Jersey — were caught after chatting online with a person they thought was either an underage teenage boy or girl. The men are between the ages of 19 and 57.

During the chats, the men were invited to meet the child in an unoccupied home in Van Buren Township. When they arrived, Van Buren Township police officers and Wayne County Sheriff's Department deputies were there to greet and arrest them.

The undercover officers, who worked in connection with the Michigan Attorney General's Office, scheduled different times for the men to show up.

-Obviously these officers ONLY worked the actual weekend (March 7-8-9) of the sting.

Four of the men arrived via taxi, while another was dropped off by his sister. One biked from Ypsilanti in 15-degree weather and another drove to the house on a flat tire that was shredded and worn to the rim by the time he arrived.

To law enforcement, that reinforces their believe that some of the men will go to extremes to set up a sexual tryst with a child.

"Even with the level of attention that these kinds of stings attract, the fact that so many men are still lining up to meet children for sex over the Internet should send shockwaves through the home of any parent," Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said in a press release.

The arrests were the result of a collaborative effort that had been in the works since October. A group that has attained national fame for being featured on the hit show "Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator" was behind these arrests, as well.

-This means the sting started in October of 2007. So from October of 2007 through March of 2008 Investigative Mechanics monitored every move of Perverted Justice? I find that hard to believe since PJ has been involved in other stings in that same time frame.

Volunteers with Perverted-Justice.com posed as children in online chat rooms and carried on the conversations with the men. A video-audio surveillance company, Investigative Mechanics, also monitored the chats.

Van Buren police Capt. Greg Laurain said the arrests should send "a clear message that we are watching those who would put children in danger."

"We used the dark side of the Internet to do that," he said. "I think the fact that these guys think they can still get away with this stuff is pretty amazing."

Two men circled the house, but never got out of their vehicles. They, too, were arrested.

"At that point, we already have them on the Internet chat material," Laurain said. "The fact that these guys showed up to the house is just icing on the cake. They don't need to go into the house to be arrested."

Laurain said most of the suspects denied they were there for sex. All of the men were searched and had their vehicles searched, if they arrived in one.

Condoms were found on a number of the men, Laurain said. One even brought an overnight bag, he said.

This sting was Perverted Justice's fifth largest in the number of arrests, according to the group's Web site.

In addition to the 27 who were arrested, several other men who chatted online with the decoys are also expected to be charged for sending sexually explicit material to someone they believed to be a child.

"Phase two is expected to arrest as many as, if not more than, the number of individuals arrested in phase one, bringing the total number of arrests to more than 50," Cox said.

"Law enforcement has a clear choice in dealing with the danger of Internet predators — either react after a child has been subjected to an assault or be proactive and intervene before they can harm a child. For us, this is an easy choice."

The 27 men arrested during the sting operation, including ___, were arraigned in 34th District Court and are being held on $50,000 cash bonds. They are due back in court Wednesday for a preliminary examination of the evidence against them. ..News Source.. by Sean Delaney, Press & Guide Newspapers