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Sex Offenders Sound Alarm ...By Bert Sass and Kent Dana 12 News

Jul 09, 2003

The Internet conversation starts innocently, cautiously, waiting for the right answers to open-ended questions. ?“What kind of fun do you like to have??”

The talk soon takes on sexual overtones. About an hour later, the two chat-room partners are having sex. A man in his 40s with a 16-year-old girl. In her Phoenix home, while her parents are away. While parents worry about sexual predators on the street, sex offenders are prowling the Internet, luring children into online pornography and even sexual encounters.

Two convicted sex offenders explained in detail to 12 News how they contacted child victims over the Internet and won their trust. Both men now are on probation and participating in court ordered psychological treatment. They asked that their real names not be used. Bob said that the 16-year-old ?“wanted to have some fun?” for her birthday and that chat rooms are full of curious adolescent and teenage girls ?“talking very freely, very promiscuously.?”

John, who is in his 50s, pretended to be ?“a 12-, 13-, 14-year-old kid.?” ?“I was different ages for different people,?” he said. ?“I would say short sentences?” to sound more like a child, he said, and even used a high-pitched voice.

The men knew how to spot a victim without ever meeting him. ?“Somebody who was lonely?… felt like he wasn?’t loved,?” Bob said. ?“That makes it even easier for me to work my way in, to become their friend.?”

Sex offenders go through a process of ?“grooming?” children, preparing them to be victims. With most girls, Bob said, ?“it would take a few weeks, sometimes a month or two.?” His chat-room conversations with teen girls would move gradually from innocence to innuendo: ?“How?’s your school life going? Do you have a boyfriend? What do you think about having a boyfriend who's a little bit older than you??” Bob did not hide the fact he was an adult. He waited for the right moment to bring up something about sex. ?“If they reacted negatively, then I would back off,?” he said. ?“And if not, then I?’d go from there.?” With more cameras on computers, John is sure that sex offenders ?“are getting these boys, and girls, too, to pose in the nude, do actual sexual activity on the computer so they can observe it.?” Bob had only one sexual encounter from a chat room. He traded photos with girls. But, when he tried to meet a 12-year-old, she turned out to be a police officer. Both offenders believe parents don?’t realize how vulnerable their children are on the Internet. Bob says the parental controls on some software ?“are a joke.?” John warns that ?“a recipe for disaster?” is to ?“ignore your kids?” and give them ?“an open door onto a computer without any restrictions.?”. . .☺