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Internet Aspect of Crime Prompts Warnings

Clay County Prosecutor’s Office, Liberty, MO, Press Release
May 11, 2001

LIBERTY, MO — A 23-year-old Michigan man faces charges of felony statutory sodomy of a Liberty girl in an Internet-related crime.

A young Smithville quadriplegic pleads guilty and is sentenced to prison for attempted on-line promotion of child pornography and harassment—in Massachusetts.

These Clay County cases—and attendant media interest associated with them—have prompted warnings about on-line dangers.

“The good news is, these cases have been relatively few and relatively far between,” says Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Don Norris. “But the bad news is, as more and more kids go on-line, we’ll see more such cases.”

Ryan A. Ward, 23, 37493 Fountain Park Circle, Westland, Mich., was charged May 9 with statutory sodomy for allegedly having sexual contact with a 12-year-old middle school student met through the Internet just a few weeks earlier.

Though charged, Ward is presumed to be innocent unless there is a plea or finding of guilt, says Norris.

Christian Hunold, 105 W. Meadow St., Smithville, was sentenced to prison by a Clay County judge in October for attempted promotion of child pornography and misdemeanor harassment. His crimes spanned half a continent and were highlighted in publications as diverse as local newspapers to the prestigious newsweekly U.S. News & World Report. Hunold’s case developed when authorities in Townsend, Mass., became alarmed by electronic threats to children there in late 1999.

Youngsters at a Townsend middle school made contact with Hunold through the Internet. Hunold later threatened the children and directed them to web sites with obscene images, said Norris. Authorities from Massachusetts and Missouri traced the activity to Hunold’s home and seized his computer. Evidence of child obscenity and on-line threats were found on the computer, said Norris.

Ward’s case is similar in that he allegedly struck up a relationship with the 12-year-old victim through the Internet. It departs from the Hunold case in that the crime moved from the virtual to the real world. Ward allegedly had telephone conversations with his victim. He also allegedly convinced the victim to let him pick her up from school. He is alleged to have driven her to a Northland apartment complex parking lot and there had sexual contact with the girl.

“Internet access is not like a big two-way TV set. It’s a new form of telecommunication, and some of the communication can be vile, threatening, offensive and illegal. That a quadriplegic from Smithville could cause terror in Massachusetts, hundreds of miles away, and gain national notoriety speaks to the potency of the Internet,” says Norris. “That a Michigan man could allegedly persuade a 12-year-old to get into a car with him and go for a ride speaks to the unearned trust some young people extend on-line ‘friends’.”

Admittedly, these cases are singularly unique. But parental diligence remains important. “The Internet is a tremendous resource but it’s also a place where bad things can get started,” adds the prosecutor. Norris urges parents to “prudently” monitor their children’s Internet use.

Suggestions he offers are to:

• Move the computer to the front room or family room where the monitor is clearly visible.

• Look over the child’s shoulder when he or she is on-line. “You wouldn’t tolerate a child being verbally abused or threatened on a phone; the Internet is no different.”

• Acquire and use blocking software. “There’s a lot of good software out there that can be loaded onto the computer to block offensive on-line content. Like all software, however, such programs have limits and quirks that users need to understand and master.”

• Determine how proficient your child’s Internet and computer skills are. “If your kid already knows how to flush an Internet cache while you need help turning on the box, then bringing your skills up to his is a priority.”

• Look into keystroke capture programs, and monitor Internet history files. “Keystroke capture programs shadow use by unobtrusively logging all keystrokes made during a computer session,” said Norris. “And by monitoring history files, you can tell what sites users have been visiting.”

• Check histories, cache files, and “favorite sites” or “bookmarks” for offensive content.

• Consider a ban on-line “chatting.” “Chatting seems to be where the personal contact—creating a personal relationship with a prospective victim—begins. If not banned, closely watch it,” says Norris.

• Similarly, monitor e-mail usage. “Use e-mail accounts provided by your Internet service provider; avoid free e-mail accounts. Reputable ISPs have clear acceptable use policies that prohibit illegal activity, and they react promptly to complaints,”adds Norris.”It’s up to the parent to monitor a child’s activities on the computer. We know police and prosecutors can’t be everywhere in the real world; expecting them to be ubiquitous in a virtual world is equally unreasonable.”