Posted on 12/17/2002 11:05:06 AM PST by LO_IQ
A South Florida man who works for the Border Patrol Station in Pembroke Pines was arrested for allegedly soliciting sex with a 13-year-old girl over the internet.
Police say 37-year-old Rick Leva allegedly set up a sexual encounter in Spokane, Washington, with a person he thought was a teenage girl, but was actually an undercover detective working a nationwide sting.
Leva was charged with second degree rape of a child. Local officials say the suspect worked for the border patrol, but was not a sworn law enforcement officer.
The girl he thought he was messaging online turned out to be a police officer.
Rick A. Leva, 37, was arrested Dec. 3 on a charge of attempted second-degree rape of a child.
According to Spokane Police Department reports, a detective was signed on to AOL under a female screen name. Leva, using the screen name Rick82951, contacted the girl Nov. 27 and asked if she' wanted to meet him when he was in Washington.
The online conversation eventually turned to sex, the report said.
On Dec. 2, when Leva was in Spokane, he allegedly contacted the girl via instant message and said he wanted to meet and have sex.
A female officer paged Leva. Minutes later, Leva showed up and was arrested.
According to the report, ``the defendant stated he was stupid, embarrassed, and wanted to die.''
Leva was released on bond.
FMCDH
The girl he thought he was messaging online turned out to be a police officer.
As one who frequents internet chatrooms, there is no bigger buzz kill than finding out the 14 year old, perky, teenage girl you've been seducing is actually a middle aged police officer. Well, that, and when you find out for the first time what a cyber-transexual is...
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Nowadays, since all the pedophiles [who committed crimes against actual children] are in jail, our cops spends long hours trolling the Internet chat rooms for lonely fools who can't resist the advances of 13-year "girls".
If the cops don't succeed at first, they keep on trying until the fool becomes a "solicitor of sex with a minor."
Welcome to the post-Internet world, where cops have already solved the majority of actual crimes, so in their free time, they become Chat Room Cops.
It reminds me of the "white supremacist" chat rooms. Most of the participants are cops also.
LOL... it's even more funny than that. This is the second time I have heard of one law enforcement officer has busted another for the crime.
It sounds like these guys like hanging around chat rooms pretending to be teenage girls WAYYYY too much. The funny thing is that apparently they are just talking to each other. Since both are law enforcement, shouldn't they arrest each other?
I guess it's not illegal to pretend to be a 13 year old girl, but it sounds pretty kinky to me? Hopefully real 13 year old girls are smart enough to stay away from idiotic chat rooms.
A civilian U.S. Border Patrol employee from Florida and four other men face felony sex charges following an online sting in which Spokane detectives posed as a 13-year-old girl.The cases include:In each case, the suspects admitted seeking out and visiting someone they thought was a girl they met in an America Online chat room, authorities say.
The suspects were arrested over the past two months when they knocked on the door of an apartment where they expected to find the girl and instead found detectives, according to court documents.
Arrested were Rick A. Leva, 37, of Sunrise, Fla.; Omen A. Oakes, 24, of Coeur d'Alene; Jarrod Settlemyre, 22, of Fort Lewis, Wash.; Scott J. Brunner, 19, and Nicholas C. Jarvis, 22, both of Spokane.
Each faces one count of attempted second-degree rape of a child. If convicted, they face significant jail time and would be required to register as a sex offender, Spokane Police Lt. Scott Stephens said.
"What that tells me is that there are a lot of adults using the Internet as predators," Stephens said. "From a parental standpoint, that has to be troubling."
Leva works with computers for the U.S. Border Patrol and was in Spokane on temporary assignment, Stephens said.
"The feds are taking a look at his case because he did interstate travel to commit a crime," Stephens said.
In the case of Scott Brunner, he arrived at the fictitious girl's home 92 minutes after first introducing himself online, according court records.
"These guys were very good about grooming the victims," Stephens said. "They work on (girls') insecurities and they tell them just what they want to hear."
The sting was organized by detectives Jerry Keller and Curt Kendall, who work for the city's Sexual Exploitation Unit, he said.
•Oakes, under the screen name of "OAKESCM123" contacted Detective Keller posing as the girl on Oct. 2.
Oakes chatted online with Keller for a day before setting up a meeting Oct. 3 at a North Spokane apartment complex. That location was used in all the later cases.
At 2:30 p.m. that day, Oakes showed up at the apartment with two condoms and was arrested.
•Brunner, under the screen name of "Lil B 65432," contacted Kendall on Oct. 30. Brunner gave his physical description and asked her to call him at a number he provided.
Kendall, posing as the girl, told Brunner that "I was nervous and kind of scared about this meeting."
Brunner replied: "Don't be. Once you see me and touch me, you'll feel warm and comfortable."
An undercover female officer then called Brunner and gave him directions to the apartment.
At 3:30 p.m. on the same day he initiated the online conversation, Brunner arrived to find the detectives waiting.
•Jarvis, who used the screen name "Bam Bam," contacted Keller Nov. 5.
Jarvis "mentioned that he could and would bring a camera to make porn with," Keller wrote in the report. Jarvis "made mention a second time that he wanted to come over when my mom leaves."
Jarvis arrived later that day at the apartment and was arrested. In his possession were three condoms and a digital camera, according to court records.
•Settlemyre, who used the screen name "Jackcrow001," contacted Keller on Nov. 25.
"The defendant made small talk, asking me what I was doing today. I responded that I was waiting for my mom to leave," Keller wrote.
Settlemyre arrived at the apartment three hours after introducing himself online. He had seven condoms in his pocket when he was arrested.
•Leva, the U.S. Border Patrol employee using the screen name "Rick82951," contacted Kendall on Nov. 27.
During a five-hour online conversation, Leva e-mailed three photographs of himself. Leva said he was flying in from Florida for work on Dec. 2.
At 11:09 p.m. that day, Leva contacted what he thought was the girl and continually asked if she could come over to his hotel room "even though I told the defendant my mom was home," Kendall wrote.
The next morning, Leva contacted Kendall at 7:45 a.m., saying that he wanted to see the girl before she went to school. Leva provided a pager number.
An undercover female officer then called the pager at about noon on Dec. 3. Leva called back and talked to the undercover officer.
He arrived at the same apartment at 12:25 p.m. and was taken into custody.
Stephens said the department publicized the arrests in an effort to make two points: to say Spokane detectives work these cases and to let parents know they should take the time to monitor their children's online chat sessions.
"These are the ones we caught," Stephens said. "What concerns me as an law enforcement officer is `how many more are out there?"'
Spokesman-Review of SpokaneIt was also reported by the Spokane newspapers
Spokane newspaper Spokesman Review.
.
I don't understand your criticism of the Miami Herald.
Are you saying that a local Border Patrol worker being caught in this situation is newsworthy in Spokane but not in Miami?
Consider your words carefully, unless you have been there, done that and have the t-shirt.. shut the f**k up.
Semper Disgusted
Do you need < sarcasm tags > in order to recognize an obviously false statement?
I think you're wound up too tightly.
Hmmm.. he is going to her apartment with condoms in his pocket...perhaps to play tiddly-winks????... Maybe thereis a chat log of him describing what he is goin gto do to her.... I normally lay low for this kind of tripe, but I have to investigate these pervs and there are one hell of a lot more of them than you can ever imagine. The chat-room chickenhawks are only one part of the problem. Wait until you see a picture of your 5 or 10 yo son or daughter getting it on with some slobbering 300+ lb "lover" THAN lets hear about how the cops are wasting their time.
You havn't had to take a 10 yo to the emergency room after she was found to have been raped by a "kind guy who understands me on the internet.." I HAVE. It kinda affects your viewpoint. So, as I said above, until you have been there, done that and have the t-shirt, Shut the f**k up.
Semper Disgusted
If you keep looking for ghosts under your bed, you might miss them inside the closet.
You are assuming people who criticize police excesses as people who hate cops.
Bad assumption. Most cops I know are great human beings who detest futile assignments when there are real crimes to solve.
It's a legitimate issue for discussion, not a us v. them problem.
I vouch for my local cops, the best professionals in the state.
For instance, two nights ago I was stopped by a cop because one of my tail lights was not working properly. He was polite, friendly, and non-confrontational. After asking me to buy a new light bulb, he let me go.
That's just an example of having positive interaction with cops. I have no reason to hate people who work to keep my streets safe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.