By Andrew Hackmack
Investigators from her office and other local law enforcement agencies conducted a sting operation in North Merrick to catch online child sexual predators.
Some of those arrested live in South Shore communities, including Lynbrook and Oceanside. However, several suspects who live outside Nassau County were also arrested, including individuals from as far away as New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine.
Rice, calling the alleged acts a "despicable crime," said charges for those arrested range from attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, to endangering the welfare of a child, attempted rape and cocaine possession. Among the 21 suspects are a Town of Hempstead sanitation worker, a former Village of Southampton official, an attorney, an accountant and a former Department of Homeland Security employee.
"This is one of those crimes that crosses all socioeconomic boundaries," Rice said. "These individuals did not hesitate to conduct sexually explicit conversations over the Internet."
According to Rice, these suspects had lewd conversations online with any one of eight undercover detectives posing as underage girls. Six of the 21 men were arrested after showing up at the "sting house" in North Merrick, where they believed they would meet an underage girl. Instead, they were arrested.
Others, Rice said, were arrested before a meeting for sending inappropriate pictures over the Internet to a recipient they believed to be underage.
Two young-looking female police officers were also used as part of the sting to pose as the underage girls for photos, and at the house. The North Merrick home was rented specifically for this operation, officials said.
Rice said the most disturbing aspect of these crimes was the sexually explicit conversations that took place before the meeting. "Most of these predators can do 99 percent of their crime in the safety of their own home," she explained. Rice added that sexual predators work to build a relationship of trust with their victims to entice a meeting.
Kathy Roberts, an investigator in the district attorney's office, said the conversations started innocently at first. The predators began by asking a child's age and gender, where they went to school, and general interests before conversations became more explicit.
Roberts said that the suspects initiated all the meetings. The investigators, posing as underage girls, arranged the meeting location. "We don't lure them to the house," she said.
In searching out sexual predators, Roberts said, it was as simple as entering any chat room on the Internet. Rice said that most of the suspects understood the risk of getting caught. She cited one person's response after his arrest. "The individual said that the urge for him far outweighed the risk," she said.
Rice said that her office would seek to educate parents and guardians about the dangers that their children face in cyberspace. "The Internet is not going away," she said. "It's not enough to just lock your doors at night and assume that your children are safe."
Other agencies involved in the summer sting operation included the Eastern Division of the United States Attorney's Office, the Garden City and Rockville Centre police departments, New York State Police and the Nassau County Police Department's Crimes Against Property Squad. Assistant District Attorney Stephen Treglia will lead the prosecution of these cases.
Treglia said that those convicted of possession of child pornography or first-degree dissemination of indecent material to minors would have to register as sex offenders. He said that 20 of the 21 people arrested face at least one of these charges.
Rice said there would be more sting operations like this one in the future. She said her office would remain vigilant in prosecuting those who commit cyber sex crimes.
"There is no greater crime in my opinion," Rice said, "than those who go after our children."
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