MI- Two nabbed in sex sting send charges to trial

Of the nine alleged offenders, possibly one was from the local area. That means this sting brought offenders to Howell which would not normally have come to Howell, and put the costs of prosecuting them on the shoulders of Howell taxpayers. In addition, who is paying the costs of this sting, including Perverted Justice, their decoys and months of time spent on the Internet, as well as the third party company which appears to have installed equipment for this sting? Local taxpayers?

8-25-2009 Michigan Phase-I:

The nine defendants snared in an undercover sting targeting men who wanted sex with a minor were in court Monday morning.

Two defendants — ____, 53, of Detroit and ____, 47, of Grand Rapids — waived a preliminary exam, sending their case to Circuit Court for trial. No new court dates were immediately available.

Defendant ___ will undergo a mental exam to determine if he is competent to stand trial. The attorney general's office also added a third charge against the 40-year-old Clawson man of using the Internet to communicate with another to commit a crime for allegedly sending sexually explicit photographs to a person he thought was a minor.

The remaining defendants will return to District Court in Brighton for preliminary exam or pretrial conference on Sept. 9.

The sting was the combined efforts of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's office, the Livingston County Sheriff's Department and Perverted Justice, the latter of which has been involved in televised stings on "To Catch a Predator" with "Dateline NBC" and MSNBC.

Officials with the attorney general's office said as many as 150 people communicated with the decoys from Perverted Justice through various online communications, including Craigslist and instant messaging.

Although I don't doubt many folks communicated with PJ decoys, as claimed here and in earlier stings, but truth be told, none were ever prosecuted in earlier stings. It is likely this is a statement to sensationalize what actually occurred.

A spokesman with the attorney general's office says charges will be pursued against the people who engaged in the illegal chat, but who did not come to the house.

The nine defendants were the ones who came to a home in Oceola Township, east of Howell, where armed officers were waiting this month. Some of the defendants were arrested when they entered the decoy house while others were arrested at the parking lot of a nearby fast-food restaurant, police said.

The investigation began months ago and culminated in the three-day sting, which occurred be-tween noon Aug. 14 and 9 a.m. Aug. 16. ..Source.. by Lisa Roose-Church • DAILY PRESS & ARGUS