Indianapolis, IN

Fri 20 July 2007

So, I’m thinking about online sex stings. Last year when Dateline NBC started airing “To Catch a Predator,” it opened up our eyes as to how prevalent online sex meetings between adults and children were. The majority of the cases were adult males meeting up with supposedly underage girls (which were actually police officers). I don’t know any person who hasn’t seen at least part of an episode or doesn’t know what I’m talking about. And what’s scary is that these teenagers think that talking to anyone online is safe. These creeps can find out anything about you and can come hunt you down if they wish, and still make you feel that they are as safe as your grandmother. Ok, but what I just can’t figure out is that there are still adults out there who still try to solicit sex from “supposed” 15-year-olds on the Internet. How many completely stupid people are there out there? Now maybe five years ago, there might be some people who didn’t know that cops will stake out a chat room and create a sting, but now in 2007? Last July a (former) teacher at Perry Meridian High School was charged for chatting online with an investigator who was posing as a 15-year-old girl. (He does get his sentence fully suspended because there was no meeting, and he doesn’t have a criminal record.) I just don’t get why grown men are even talking to underage girls online at all. In this day and age, you have to assume that they are all undercover investigators. His attorney was sited as saying (quoted in the Indianapolis Star), “The young man was guilty of indiscretion and poor judgment.” Oh, shut up. I have a better word for it: stupidity. Try getting another decent job with “sexual predator” on your record. Way to go, buddy.

: sex predators, Dateline NBC, To Catch a Predator, underage sex