This time, it wasn't a police officer posing as an underage boy or girl who bagged an Internet sex predator looking for a close encounter of the sexual kind. Instead, it was an undercover volunteer working with an Internet watchdog group known as USCyberwatch.
The 24-year-old suspect, Brandon Candiano, was indicted by a federal grand jury April 21 on charges of using the interstate wire to lure what he thought was a 13-year-old girl to meet him in Hammond for a sexual liaison, according to U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen. Candiano was arrested Jan. 31 and has been behind bars since.
USCyberwatch did not return a query for comment from AVNOnline.com before this story went to press, but the group describes itself as "a sort-of Internet Neighborhood Watch" in U.S.-based chat rooms, because dangers facing children from sexual predators are "a much bigger problem than most people realize. It's a dark, ugly issue and one that many people don't want to face head-on. However, we must face it and do what we can to stop it in order to protect our children from predators on-line,” the group states on its website.
"Across this country, and the world, at all hours of the day and night, there are adults lurking in chat rooms, sending private messages to children, and to people they believe to be children, in an attempt to set up real-life meetings for sex. … This is wrong. It is both immoral and illegal. We stand against these people who seek to harm our nation's children."
The group claims to have helped bring about 10 convictions or case resolutions through mid-April, but doesn't post detailed information on its website until getting clearance from law enforcement. The group has three full-time staff members and at least eight "citizen informants and staff," and presently claims to have 20 cases filed with law enforcement, as well as previous activities which led to 34 arrests.
Candiano is accused of propositioning a USCyberwatch volunteer masquerading as a 13-year-old girl named Kira, with whom he began to chat Jan. 9. Almost right away he tried to get her to meet him for sex, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. She agreed to meet but didn't appear, claiming later to have gone to the wrong location, and Candiano set up another meeting—during which USCyberwatch informed him it was a sting operation.
The case was investigated by the FBI following USCyberwatch tips.
USCyberwatch has some cooperative agreements with some law enforcement agencies and is trying to make others. Where it lacks such agreements, the group said on its site, it posts "true and complete chat logs" between men and their "citizen informants" posing as children online.
"These chats are often graphic and not suitable for children," the group said. "But it's important that we post them exactly as they happened, because if we don't, many won't see how truly disturbing this problem is. It's also important, for law enforcement purposes, that the chats are posted in their true and correct form."
The group denies that what it does could be construed as entrapment. "First, we are not law enforcement, and entrapment applies to law enforcement, not to private citizens," the group’s website notes.
"Secondly, entrapment is the act of luring, enticing, and creating a willingness within someone to commit a crime that they were not already willing to commit," the site continues. "We do not do that. These people have to approach us first. Always. Then, they have to be willing to meet with a child in real life for sex. . . . We do work with law enforcement, and are willing to work with new agencies when they show an active interest in pursuing charges in these cases."
