Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Internet sex sting operations conducted by Shawano County authorities over the past several years have never failed to nab at least one suspect — something law enforcement officials find disturbing.
“It’s disturbing when you look at the nature of criminal offenses and where they’ve gone since the Internet,” said Detective Sgt. Gordon Kowaleski of the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department. “Years ago you worked a beat and you controlled your beat. Now we’re living in a virtual environment.”
The fact that the operations continue to be successful is also a little frustrating, Kowaleski said, in that suspects are still willing to set up sexual encounters with children in spite of the publicity that previous arrests have gotten.
“I’m not sure what to do to put an end to it,” he said. “It seems no matter what we do, no matter how much publicity the news gives it, we keep becoming successful with these operations.”
The sheriff’s department, as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, has conducted multiple operations over the past three years, resulting in nearly two dozen arrests in Shawano County.
The operations have involved detectives — posing as juveniles — going online to monitor chat rooms and online forums, as well as placing ads and responding to posts placed by others.
“We recognize there is a very real online presence of opportunistic offenders who would seek to initiate illegal and predatory contact with juveniles,” Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Tuma said.
County authorities launched their latest effort, dubbed Operation Eclipse, on Sept. 25.
In the three weeks that followed, six people were arrested after arriving in Shawano County for what they allegedly expected would be sexual encounters with children.
The most high-profile of those arrests was unique in that it involved a man who, according to police, had already made the acquaintance of a 13-year-old boy. Detectives took over electronic communications with the suspect after being alerted by the boy’s mother to text messages he was receiving.
Nicholas R. Bennett, 23, of Portland, Oregon, was charged Monday with using a computer to facilitate a sex crime and attempted child enticement.
“This latest case underscores the necessity of our proactive operations,” Tuma said.
While most other cases have involved detectives posing as juveniles, the allegations against Bennett involving an actual 13-year-old boy underscore the reality of the dangers out there on the Internet, Kowaleski said.
“This shows these things do happen in real life,” he said.
More disturbing, he added, are the incidents that take place and don’t come to light. Many of these types of crimes go unreported, Kowaleski said.
The involvement of a child in such cases is not unusual. In fact, Kowaleski said, there have been juveniles who have responded to the undercover ads and postings placed by detectives.
“Depending on the age of the child, we would meet with the parents and try to get them some services to correct that type of behavior,” Kowaleski said.
Kowaleski said the Bennett case, which had detectives taking over electronic communication that had already been initiated, posed some challenges.
“It makes it more difficult and dangerous on many levels,” he said. “The fact that we do have a potential local victim, not to mention the dangers that are involved in what could have happened had the mother, number one, and us, number two, had not intervened in this case.”
Tuma said there have been cases where children have been enticed from their homes by Internet predators.
In 2011, Xan C. Boyett, 22, of Texas, was convicted of child abduction and interfering with child custody after he convinced a 13-year-old Shawano County girl he met on the Internet to leave home and go with him to Vermont. The two were intercepted on a bus when it reached Sheboygan.
Boyett was sentenced to five years in prison on the two felony charges.
“The people who commit crimes today aren’t really worried about jurisdictional boundaries,” Kowaleski said. “And when you add into the mix the Internet, you can literally go worldwide in seconds. So these crimes can take place in a virtual environment anywhere.”
The Bennett case in particular shows that parents need to be aware of what their children are up to online, Kowaleski said.
“It shows that parents need to be very vigilant today, especially with today’s virtual environment and their children having any number of different devices they can go online with, they can chat with. They can send pictures, text messages. Look at the devices,” Kowaleski said. “Look at the text messages and see what’s going on, just to keep everyone safe.”
Sheriff Adam Bieber said it’s important that parents have an open dialogue with their children about those who wish to do them harm.
“Parents should also go over what is appropriate behavior from adults and in the presence of adults,” he said. “Parents should also discuss what is appropriate communication on their devices. Obviously any communication of devices should be monitored, but parents need to let their children know that it is not the child’s fault if a pervert begins contacting them randomly.”
Bieber said children often are afraid that parents will take away their devices and, as a result, do not notify the parents of inappropriate communications.
“Parents must be prepared and discuss that with their children and take the appropriate measured steps to protect their children,” he said.
Bieber also thanked sheriff’s detectives for their work and expertise in the investigations.
“Our detectives have other investigations they are responsible for, but they feel as I do that we need to take time to be proactive and get these predators off the street prior to them victimizing any child,” he said. “The reason our department has been so successful in finding these perverts is because we are one of a very few departments conducting these type of investigations.”
Bieber said the Internet operations would continue.
“The Shawano sheriff’s office will continue to be proactive in protecting our children,” he said.