MI- Sentence, plea for 2 Internet predators

7-30-2009 Michigan Phase-I:

Two of the 21 men nabbed in an October 2008 Internet predator sting in Grand Rapids Township were in court Wednesday.

_____, of Addison, Ill., was sentenced to one year in the Kent County jail and five years of probation.

The 25-year-old entered a guilty plea to one count of child sexually abusive activity in May as part of a plea agreement. One count of using a computer or the Internet to commit a crime was dropped.

For weeks, volunteers with the group Perverted Justice chatted with 200 men from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The suspects had already contacted the "teens" - adults acting as decoys - in online chat rooms. The decoys then agreed to meet the suspects for sex.

One by one, the men showed up at the door of a Grand Rapids Township home, as Del Harvey, a young-looking 26-year-old volunteer with Perverted Justice, greeted them. The men thought they were following their 13-year-old date. Instead, they were met with armed agents and deputies.

Another man busted in the sting, _____ of Wyoming, entered a guilty plea Wednesday.

The 22-year-old pleaded guilty in circuit court to one charge of using a computer or the Internet to commit a crime, as a part of a plea deal to drop two other counts, including one charge for child sexually abusive activity.

The agreement calls for a sentence of 18 to 240 months in prison.

_____ will be sentenced in September. ..Source.. by WOOD TV.com