Those who believe mother knows best should be heartened by the Iowa woman who bagged an Internet predator by posing as his intended underage sex partner: her daughter.
The girl unknowingly left her mother the opening when, according to several reports, she forgot to log out of a chat room before going to bed one night. The mother noticed a message to the girl with "some very disturbing content" and decided to do something about it, the reports said.
She used the girl's screen name and engaged the man, identified as Richard Johanson of Short Hills, New Jersey. Discovering he was pressing the 14-year-old girl for a meeting for sex, the woman and the Hancock County Sheriff's Department set up a sting.
The woman continued to chat with Johanson, posing as her daughter, and arranged a meeting with him in a public place.
Johanson tried to flee but was apprehended and arrested on federal charges of third-degree sexual abuse and enticing away a minor. He is being held in Hancock County Jail and could face up to 12 years behind bars if convicted.
