Remarks: District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Press Conference: 02/22/06
Re: 2006 Internet Predator Sting Operation
Thank you everyone for coming. Before we begin, I would like to thank the Laguna Beach Police Department who conducted the investigation and Orange County Probation Department who also assisted in the operation. Credit also should be given to the citizen-group at Perverted-justice.com who conducted the internet chats from the accused sexual predators.
As you know, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges on 13 individuals for crimes preying on children through the internet. The information on each of these individuals is on the boards. Six of them are still in custody and will be in court this afternoon, and seven of them will be in court on March 29, 2006, at Harbor Justice Center, in Newport Beach.
Thirteen men, ages ranging from 19 to 51, occupations ranging from Starbucks manager to a law enforcement lieutenant, were charged as a result of an internet sexual predator operation. All of these men were charged with attempted lewd acts upon a child under the age of fourteen. In addition, one was charged with possession of methamphetamine and a pipe. One of the men was also charged with sending explicit materials over the internet. The child molest charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in state prison.
The names, age and occupations of these individuals are different, but their sick methods of seducing and preying on our children are hauntingly similar. On each of these cases, each predator contacted children through websites that are popular to children such as Myspace.com.
All of them engaged in internet chats with a fictitious 12 or 13-year-old girls. Many of these chats stretched for hours and hours and multiple days. The chats detailed explicit, graphic sex talks including oral sex, masturbation and intercourse. One sent explicit pictures. Others exchanged regular photographs. One of the men left his own 13-year-old daughter to go have sex with a fictitious one. Many of them worried about being detected by law enforcement and parents.
The samples of these types of chats will make your stomach turn. You can find them on www.perverted–justice.com . The conversations all started out innocent talking about food, parents, and make-up and soon turned into a sickening perversion.
What is scary about these types of suspects is that they are not the suspicious looking guy behind the bushes. They are not even the creepy man or neighbor looking luridly at our children. What is scary about them is that they bypass most forms of parental vigilance. They come into homes behind locked doors, behind alarm systems, around the watchful eyes of parents who believe their children are safe in their room studying and working on the computer. These predators are taking advantage of children’s innocence, boredom, loneliness, insecurities and thirst for acceptance and love.
The scope of this seduction of children is breathtaking. What we have today is one city, on one night. These types of crimes are happening every day, all over the country, all over the world.
We are at war with child predators who want to take our children hostage to satisfy their sick perversions. This is a war we MUST win.
I am asking the media’s help to shine the bright light on these individuals and their activities. I urge the media to publish every one of these names and pictures.
Finally, before I turn the floor over to Chief Sellers, I wanted to let you know the officials at the California Highway Patrol have been completely cooperative in aiding our investigation. This arrest should in no way reflect upon the professionalism of the entire department.