MI- 9 arrested in 'Net child predator sting

In last night's report there were 10 folks arrested, wonder what happened to the 10th one?

8-17-2009 Michigan Phase-I:

A Grand Rapids man is one of the suspects

LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) - Attorney General Mike Cox's office and Livingston County Sheriff Robert Bezotte Monday announced the results of an undercover Internet child predator sting that took place in Howell from August 14-16.

The sting resulted in the arrest of nine men accused of trying to engage in sexual activity after targeting who they thought were children online.

"The message for predators is loud and clear," Cox said in a statement. "We are watching. If you attempt to target a child, we will take you offline."

The men were taken into custody at or near a decoy home in the Howell area after engaging in sexually explicit Internet chats with undercover agents posing as children.

All defendants who traveled to have sex with a child were charged with child sexually abusive activity and a similar charge of using a computer to commit that offense. Both charges are felonies. Additional counts are charged if the defendant sent pornographic images to the undercover agents.

The defendants --

* _____, 47, of Grand Rapids; arrested by authorities at a fast-food restaurant parking lot while carrying condoms, lubricant and pornographic videos

* _____, 53, of Detroit; a retired City of Detroit police officer who counseled the undercover agent on how to avoid saving chat logs and threatened to kill himself if turned in. Allen was arrested at a nearby fast food restaurant parking lot

* _____, 40, of Clawson; a grocery store clerk who took a cab from Oakland County to the decoy location, later arriving at the home on foot. He was arrested outside the home

* _____, 37, of Eastpointe; a music D.J., was arrested by officers at a fast-food restaurant parking lot

* _____, 49, of La Salle; a security guard who was arrested upon entering the decoy home

* _____, 29, of Columbus, Ohio; reported that he is an Indian citizen in the United States for about a month as a software programmer. Reported that he took a cab to the decoy home after taking a bus from Columbus to Detroit

* _____, 24, of Flint

* _____, 29, of Rochester Hills

* _____, 50, of Flint

Additional arrests are likely for people who transmitted sexually explicit material but did not travel to the decoy location.

Prior to this operation, Cox's office had already arrested 236 Internet predators after creating one of the first Internet child protection units in the nation.

This number is questionable as there was only two stings in 2008. SO where did the rest come from? Likely the efforts of local agencies around the state which Cox is trying to take credit for.

The defendants were all willing to travel for sex with a child despite long distances or lack of personal transportation, with two taking taxi cabs to the location. Many of the accused predators mentioned in their online chats that they feared being caught in a sting situation and declined to come to the home, asking to meet at nearby locations instead. This change in tactics indicates that previous Attorney General stings have had an effect on predators who in the previous stings regularly and boldly entered decoy homes with the intent to abuse children.

However, Cox notes that predator chat activity online remained very active and aggressive during this operation, so parents must take the lead role in monitoring their children's Internet activities to keep them safe.

"This is a reminder for parents that the Internet is being used by predators to target our children," said Cox. "Parents must be monitoring what their kids are doing online and talk often with them about the dangers of communicating with people they don't know and trust."

Other partners in the sting operation included Perverted Justice, a non-profit organization that specializes in identifying online predators, and Investigative Mechanics, Inc., which outfitted the decoy house and neighborhood with state-of-the-art video and audio surveillance equipment. ..Source.. by WOOD TV8.com