Online sex offenders tracked

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Wrestling coach charged for online solicitation

August 19, 2009 -- A W.T. Woodson High School wrestling coach was arrested for inappropriate online discussions with a minor when the 14-year-old girl he thought he was talking to was actually a Spotsylvania Sheriff's Deputy. Gary Debrielle, 26, was an assistant coach at W.T. Woodson High School for the past two years. He was charged with attempted indecent liberties with a child and online solicitation of a child. According to Fairfax County Public School's spokesman Mary Shaw, Debrielle was not a full-time employee with Fairfax County Public Schools. Shaw also said that Debrielle never taught in a classroom but interacted with students that he coached. "He was never in contact with students [as a teacher in a classroom], and he is no longer employed," Shaw said. "He was employed on a month-by-month basis." From July 10-14, Deputy Megan Warren of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Department posed as a 14-year-old girl online and engaged in conversations with Debrielle. "[Debrielle] believed that he was speaking to a 14-year-old girl," said 1st Sgt. Liz Scott of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office. "He engaged her in sexual conversation." The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office traced Debrielle's screen name to his home in Chantilly and found that he was employed by Fairfax County Public Schools. On August 13, Warren obtained a warrant for Debrielle's arrest, and he was arrested by the Fairfax County Police Department on Friday, August 14. Scott said that Fairfax County Police arrested Debrielle because Spotsylvania Police cannot respond to a warrant issued on a person living in another jurisdiction. Scott explained that in order for someone to be charged with online crimes of a sexual nature, certain guidelines must be met. "The suspect must be aware the [other party] is under 18 and the [suspect must make] the conversation sexual," she said. "[The officer] doesn't try to cause them to engage in sexual discussion." Debrielle will be transferred to the Rappahannock Regional Jail. He will be held under no bond pending a court appearance in the Spotsylvania Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

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Former Kennedy-Kenrick volleyball coach arrested

NORRISTOWN, August 19, 2009 -- A former coach of Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High School was arrested Aug. 13 for unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a computer, according to a press release issued Wednesday by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Kennedy-Kenrick and St. Pius X are merging into one school campus in Upper Providence in the near future. H. Michael Villarose II, of Plymouth Meeting, who coached the school's varsity volleyball team in 2007-08 and 2008-09, was arrested by agents of the Philadelphia attorney general's child predator unit for allegedly sending nude photos of himself to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. Villarose resigned on Monday, the same day the archdiocese was made aware of the charges, according to the press release from the archdiocese. "The arrest was not made as a result of any activity related to his position as coach at Kennedy-Kenrick," the press release read.

Villarose's background check had shown nothing about past crimes or child abuse, according to the archdiocese. He had attended a mandated Archdiocesan Safe Environment Training course as well, according to the press release. In the statement released by the archdiocese, Mary Rochford, superintendent of Catholic schools, said, "We are surprised and distressed to learn of these charges. While we have no report of criminal activity committed by Mr. Villarose in his position as a coach, the administration of Kennedy-Kenrick High School will be informing our school families immediately and offering contact information for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office of Child and Youth Protection if anyone needs to talk about this situation."

Villarose's arrest was one of three carried out by the child predator unit in the past week. Also arrested were a Franklin County man accused of traveling to York to have sex with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, and a Lebanon County man charged with sending sexually explicit webcam videos to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. According to the attorney general's press release, "All three suspects are accused of using Internet chat rooms and instant message services to approach and sexually proposition, what they believed were young girls." The suspects were in fact chatting with undercover agents from the attorney general's office.

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Man accused of trying buy a 4-year-old girl to appear in sex flim

August 20, 2009 -- The Buffalo man accused of trying buy a 4-year-old girl to put her in a sex film says that he was planning to turn her over to police. Joseph A. Koehn, 26, of Esser Avenue, made that claim in a statement to police last week, authorities revealed Wednesday. A registered sex offender, Koehn faces both state and federal charges in connection with a sting operation run by FBI agents and the Buffalo police Sex Offenses Squad.

“I have never had sex with someone underage, with the exception of a 16-year-old, for which I was already prosecuted,” Koehn said in the statement filed in federal court. “If I had met the 4-year-old, I was intending to report this incident to the police.” Police arrested Koehn last week, after authorities said he offered to pay thousands of dollars to obtain a 4-year-old girl to star in a pornographic film. Authorities said the arrest followed a series of e-mail and text message conversations between Koehn and an undercover investigator.

Koehn was arrested after he showed up at a meeting site in Buffalo looking for the girl, who didn’t actually exist, authorities said. After Koehn gave them permission to examine his computer, FBI agents said they found three movie files showing adult males having sex with young girls. The Erie County district attorney’s office filed state charges of attempted rape, attempted criminal sexual act and attempted predatory sexual assault of a child. The U. S. attorney’s office accuses Koehn of possessing Internet child pornography. All the charges are felonies. Koehn, a onetime pizza deliveryman who has two young children of his own, told court officials he hasn’t worked since last year. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in City Court and before U. S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy. Koehn told McCarthy that he only had $45 to his name.

Michael J. Stachowski, his court-appointed attorney for the state charges, called Koehn a “mentally challenged young man” who needs a psychiatric evaluation. Stachowski said that, in his view, Koehn was “acting out a sad little fantasy.” The attorney said he believes that Koehn really would have turned the girl over to police if someone had brought her to him. “He has two kids of his own, ages 4 and 2, who live with him. His fiancee tells me he is a good father, and she had no idea any of this was going on,” Stachowski said. “It’s my understanding that the undercover agents were asking $25,000 for this 4-year-old girl. Where in the world is [Koehn] going to get $25,000 when he doesn’t work and his fiancee supports him by working at a restaurant? And how do you attempt the rape and sexual assault of a person who doesn’t even exist?” the defense attorney added.

What do law enforcement officials make of the claim that Koehn had no real intention of putting a 4-year-old in a sex film and would have turned her over to police? Assistant U. S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell, who is prosecuting the federal case, declined to comment, except to say more details will be disclosed in court proceedings. Prosecutor Rosanne E. Johnson of the district attorney’s office declined to comment. “Our department stands behind its investigators and their investigation,” Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said. John F. Humann, a federal public defender who also represents Koehn, declined to comment except to note that his client has pleaded not guilty.

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Pervert gets light sentence

Calgary, August 20, 2009 -- Convincing underaged grocery store co-workers to send him naked pictures of themselves will mean a minimum jail term for a Calgary man. Robert Ogle pleaded guilty today to four charges in connection with his sexual advances towards three minors he worked with between the summer of 2004, and last February. An agreed statement of facts made and exhibit in the hearing and signed by Ogle, along with his lawyer, Lisa Burgis, and Crown prosecutor Nadine Nesbitt, outlined his crimes. It said Ogle, now 25, befriended three girls who were all under the age of 16 when he worked with them at a Sobeys store. He communicated with them over the Internet and even created two fictitious females he used in his successful attempts to get his victims to create child pornography for him. Ogle also sexually fondled one of the girls after she went to his residence and was convinced by him to remove her shirt. “At the time (she) was 15 and Ogle was 25,” the statement said, of the assault earlier this year. Cops who raided Ogle’s home on February 20, found multiple images of each of the girls Ogle had convinced to pose for him. A large number of other pornographic pictures were found on his computer, with the majority of the females appearing to be between 14 and 18. “However, Ogle did have at least 100 child pornography images saved on his thumbdrive of girls between the ages of eight and 12,” it said. “The forensic examiner also found 1,139 child pornography images that Ogle had viewed and deleted that were in the eight- to 14-year-old range,” the exhibit said. “The majority of the child pornography images viewed and saved by Ogle were pictures of naked girls posing in a sexual manner, or touching themselves in a sexual manner.” The minimum sentence for making kiddie porn when the Crown proceeds by indictable offence is one year. Ogle remains on bail pending the preparation of a pre-sentence and psychological report before his sentencing in November.

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Israeli 'pervert' preying on Filipino women deported

August 20, 2009 -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported an Israeli man accused of tricking Filipino women into having sex with him in exchange for a better life abroad. Daniel Berner, 37, was deported Wednesday on board a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Hongkong and Tokyo enroute to Tel Aviv, Israel. Immigration chief Marcelino Libanan said the Israeli, who disguised himself as a Canadian and goes by many aliases, had victimized several Filipinas whom he had duped by sending them e-mails via the Internet. “He would usually promise his victims that he would marry them and bring them with him to Canada if they got pregnant with his child, thus he would entice them to have sex with him," Libanan said in a statement. Epifanio Lambino Jr., acting assistant chief of the bureau’s Law Enforcement Division (LED) said they first found out about Berner when one of his victims sought the help of a television station, which in turn referred the case to the BI. Berner was finally apprehended by the LED during an entrapment operation on July 29 at the Greenbelt Mall in Makati City. After the arrest, the BI board of commissioners issued the deportation order against him. He has also been included in the bureau’s blacklist. “Sex perverts like him (Berner) who exploit and take advantage of our women should be expelled and banned from re-entering our country," said Libanan. The BI chief said the Israeli entered the country as a tourist and was staying in the Philippines on a fraudulent passport. The BI also found out that Berner is wanted in Japan, Great Britain, and Canada for engaging in similar Internet fraud schemes and that a US$50,000 reward for his arrest has already been put up by authorities in Tokyo.

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New Jersey man snared in Internet child sex sting

August 20, 2009 -- A New Jersey man was arrested Wednesday in central Lake County, lured there by a Lake County sheriff’s investigator who posed as a 15-year-old girl in an Internet chat room. Kenneth P. Aronson, 36, of Somerset, New Jersey, was charged with one count of indecent solicitation of a child. “I am sickened by the fact that Mr. Aronson would take such enormous steps in the pursuit of sexually abusing what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl,” Sheriff Mark Curran said. “I am thankful our investigators weeded this predator out of the chat room.” The investigation began two and a half weeks ago when Sgt. George Manis and Detective Karen Kates, posing as the 15-year-old, began an Internet chat room relationship with Aronson. During the chat room conversations, the exchanges turned sexual and Aronson asked to meet with “the 15-year-old girl” for the purposes of engaging in sexual activity. On Wednesday, Aronson flew into O’Hare International Airport, rented a vehicle and arrived at the rendezvous point in central Lake County about 7:55 p.m. Aronson was taken into custody without incident. The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office is assisting with the forensic examination of Aronson’s laptop computer, which was confiscated when he was arrested. His bond was set Thursday at $25,000. If convicted of the Class 3 felony, Aronson could face up to 10 years in prison. His preliminary court date is September 23.

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Police: Man traveled to York for girl

August 20, 2009 -- A Franklin County youth sports coach was arrested Tuesday after he traveled to York to have sex with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, police said. Chad Randall Keefer, 43, of Locust Level Road, Greencastle, used an Internet chat room to approach an undercover agent with the Child Predator Unit who was posing as a 13-year-old York girl, according to state Attorney General Tom Corbett. Keefer first met the girl online in 2008, according to court documents, and was honest about his age and location. They communicated through December, then not again until after June 1, then throughout the summer. Keefer proposed meeting the girl near her home and taking her to a nearby hotel where they could drink wine coolers before exploring sexual activity, court documents state. When Keefer arrived at the predetermined location, he was taken into custody by Child Predator Unit agents, who were assisted by York Area Regional Police. After his arrest, agents searched Keefer's vehicle and seized a digital camera, a cell phone, wine coolers and grain alcohol. Keefer was associated in 2006 with the Chambersburg-based PA Blitz traveling softball team for girls age 14 and under, including coaching the team that went to nationals in Tennessee that year. He also coached other Franklin County teams over the years. Chad Randall Keefer has been charged with unlawful contact with a minor related to statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor related to child pornography and criminal use of a computer. Keefer was placed in York County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail. He was prohibited from using a computer and may not have contact with minors other than his children. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 18.