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RSS feedsA group of American teenagers was instrumental in the capture of a suspected child molester following a classic internet sting.
The group set up an online persona at myspace.com, a social networking site popular with youngsters. The teenagers said this was done to cheer up a friend, who had recently been dumped by his girlfriend.
However, the group soon found that the fictitious 'Jessica' was getting increasingly sexual messages from a much older poster on the site.
They set up another identity and, when the same man contacted the new persona, they decided to string him along a little more.
The man sent the 'girl' a picture of himself and arranged to meet her in a nearby public park. When the teenagers recognised him from his photo they called the police, who swooped.
"Michael Ramos, 48, was charged with one felony count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a 15 year-old and two misdemeanour counts of attempted child molestation," Karen Martinez, a San Bernardino County deputy district attorney, told AP News.
Martinez explained that to face charges a person must "take a step toward completing that crime ... such as appearing in the place that was arranged upon. It is not just talking about it, thinking about it or wishing about it."
See also:
Malware inadvertantly does something good for a change 21 Dec 2005
Specialist lawyers for cases involving child porn, hacking and ID fraud 21 Oct 2005
Portal will initiate controls over chat rooms where users link up with children 13 Oct 2005All Ecommerce
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