To fish, you need a pond and good bait.  Police in Jefferson, Gilpin, Adams, and Denver County Colorado are looking to hook you.  Their pond is Yahoo Romance Chat, and their bait is police officers posing as fourteen year old girls.

In a given year, we have several men contact us from all over the country, caught by Colorado police.  They generally begin a conversation with a person pretending to be a girl under fifteen, in order to meet the elements of Internet Luring of a Child, C.R.S. 18-3-306.  The conversations are saturated with sexual talk and innuendos.  At some point, the officers will indicate that they are fourteen – yet experienced sexual partners anxious to meet you or see you expose yourself over the internet.  Finally, the girls (officers) invite the man to meet them for sex.  Most men are local and, with libidos in high gear, speed to the meeting where police make their arrest.  Some men travel across the country for the cold reception.

The required elements for Internet Luring in Arapahoe, Douglas, Larimer, or Weld County generally involve a communication over the internet or phone (texts qualify), to someone believed to be under fifteen years, with a description of explicit sexual conduct, and with an invitation to meet for any purpose.  A meeting does not need to actually occur.  On some occasions, these cases are also charged as Attempted Sexual Assault on a Child under C.R.S. 18-3-405.

We always screen these cases for the Affirmative Defense of Entrapment.  This affirmative defense basically says that police have set you up to do something you would not have ordinarily conceived to do on your own.  While not always successful, a thorough examination of the transcript between our client and the police officer is essential.  Police will always produce a written transcript of the chat between them and the person arrested.

Internet Luring of a Child is either a class five or class four felony.  It is also a sex offense and will require registration as a sex offender.  Sex offenders will need to participate in Sex Offender Treatment under the onerous regulations of the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB).  You need an experienced sex crimes attorney at your side when the stakes are so high.

If contacted by police, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and call the experienced sex crimes attorneys at the O'Malley Law Office, 303-830-0880.  Together, we can protect your future.