AG agent delivers strong message for kids

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MILL HALL - Christina Long had a strong story to tell the sixth-graders at Central Mountain Middle School Tuesday - Unfortunately she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death by an Internet predator before she got the chance.

Craig S. LeCadre, a special agent for the Office of Attorney General, offered Christina's story in her stead.

It was a cautionary tale, delivered to youngsters who are sophisticated in the ways of technology, but not so sophisticated when it comes to its dangers.

LeCadre asked the youngsters to raise their hands if they owned cell phones, if they had a computer at home, or if they had a personal Web page at socializing websites like Facebook and MySpace.

With each question, a multitude of hands rose into the air. (At an evening assembly, few of the parents had even heard of Facebook or MySpace.)

The youngsters were less informed than their parents, however, when it came to knowing that most Internet predators were white, between the ages of 20 and 60, frequently professionals with strong ties to the community and very intelligent.

Part of the discussion between LeCadre and the students included portions of a DVD the Attorney General's Office has created, including segments that showed the stories of two victims.

"I'm here to scare the bejeezus out of you," LeCadre told the assembly.

He accomplished that task.

LeCadre showed the students several portraits of predators and challenged them to pick out the criminals from the dozens of photographs.

There were no clues.

Each portrait was unremarkable.

Some youngsters pointed to the young man and others accused the old. Each bald, curly-haired, handsome or ugly face had its supporters and detractors.

In the end, after a random shuffle of utter normalcy only one student guessed right.

"They're all predators," he said, and got a free key ring for his efforts.

LeCadre then said each of the men was one of the 167 suspects arrested and prosecuted in the past three years for Internet crimes against children.

Christina was a 13-year-old Danbury, Conn. girl who lived with her aunt, was shy and kept to herself, by all accounts, LeCadre said.

Her aunt said she started spending more time on the Internet and less time with her friends. Eventually, she went to the mall with friends and was nowhere to be found when her aunt arrived to take her home.

A check of her computer turned up the fact she had been meeting with an adult. Police interviewed the man, who confessed and led police to a remote ravine in a nearby community where he left her body.

The investigation showed that Christina met the man in a chat room, started emailing him and then proceeded to telephone contacts before meeting in person.

At her Catholic school, sixth-grader Christina Long made good grades, led the cheerleading squad, and was an altar girl.

On the Internet, she used provocative screen names and routinely had sex with partners she met in chat rooms, police said.

Police said 13-year-old Christina was strangled by Saul Dos Reis, 25, a married restaurant worker and undocumented immigrant from Brazil.

Reis was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the sexual assault and strangling of the sixth-grade girl he met in an Internet chat room.

During the sentencing he apologized for killing the youngster.

"I have not had a single night of sleep when I don't wake up drenched in sweat," he said.

Judge Patrick L. Carroll III said the apology should have come sooner.

"That time for mercy was the evening your victim died in your hands," he said.

LeCadre used the big screen to allow Alicia Kozakiewicz of Pittsburgh to tell her story.

Kozakiewicz survived her ordeal - but for a long time she didn't want to.

Kozakiewicz was 13. She is now 19 and very pretty. Her cinematic debut before CMMS students had nothing to do with how pretty she was.

It had a lot to do with how ugly she felt inside even now, six years after she had been abducted, chained like a prisoner for days and repeatedly raped.

The FBI found Kozakiewicz far from home several days after her abduction on New Years Day in 2002, cowering in a bedroom in suburban Washington, D.C.

She had a collar around her neck and was secured to the floor with a chain.

Her ordeal was unimaginable.

Kozakiewicz told about how technology has become a tool for sexual predators and other criminals, such as those engaged in identity theft.

Kozakiewicz met her abductor online. She and "Christine" became friends and she talked for hours online every night, long after her parents thought she was in bed. She said she became angry when she found out her girlfriend was a man, but continued the relationship because he told her what she wanted to hear.

Her online acquaintance turned out to be a 38-year-old computer programmer. He introduced her to the man who abducted her.

Kozakiewicz said she had no real thought of the danger when she left her house on the coldest day of the year, without a coat, and waited by a tree. She almost awoke to the danger, when she heard her name called and got into a car with a stranger.

The FBI found Kozakiewicz three days later, using both old-fashioned tips from the public and new computer technology to track down her whereabouts. The agency charged Scott W. Tyree, of Herndon, Va.

He was sentenced in September 2003 to 19 years and seven months in a federal prison.

The FBI captured Tyree after he boasted online about having kidnapped a girl. To prove it, he posted pictures of a bound and beaten Kozakiewicz.

Authorities used Tyree's screen name - masterforteenslavegirls - to find his Yahoo profile, which eventually led to the discovery of his name and residence.

Tuesday's presentation was sparked by a local incident in which a middle school teen used her cell phone to send what she thought was a private photograph to her male friend. The explicit photograph was shared with others, leading to an investigation by school authorities and police.

The speeches to youngsters were an effort to get their attention and let them know that today's actions have far reaching consequences.

It's part of a statewide "Operation Safe Surf" initiative conducted by representatives of the Attorney General's Office and others.

"Operation Safe Surf" is designed to help educate kids and schools about Internet safety, and show parents how they can help keep their children safe online.

The AG's office has noted that 85 percent of children (13 million) use instant messaging and only 18 percent of adults know what "IMing" is all about.

Attorney General Tom Corbett has cautioned parents and children to be alert for adults who sexually proposition them, send them explicit photos or webcam videos or attempt to arrange meetings.

"Social networking sites are the hunting ground for predators," LeCadre said. "Many of them put their own photographs up and they do their research on their intended targets. We've found some suspects who have a Google Earth page of a neighborhood of their intended victim in their possession when we've arrested them. They can easily find out your age, school, home address, friends, interests and other facts."

According to LeCadre, one out of every five kids who are online come into contact with a predator - within an hour's time.

Since the creation of the Child Predator Unit in January 2005, agents have arrested 167 Internet predators.

That's the immediate danger.

"This can have long term impact," LeCadre told the youngsters. "It can come back to haunt you. Imagine applying for college and having that college find out you did something stupid when you were younger, just by checking the Internet. Or an employer doing the same thing. You aren't going to get into that school, and you aren't going to get that job. There are consequences."

Internet safety tips for parents, children and teachers are available in the ''Operation Safe Surf'' and ''Just for Kids'' sections of the attorney general's Web site at education@attorneygeneral.gov.

Suspected Internet predators can be reported to the attorney general's office through a toll-free hotline, (800) 385-1044.