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Posted by: lpwpd722

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sting on MySpace leads to arrest of 20-year-old

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WARREN— A police officer posing as a 15-year-old California girl on the social networking Web site MySpace.com lured a local man to the Town Common who allegedly hoped to meet the teen, smoke marijuana and engage in sexual relations.

Brandon Pothier, 20, of 2 Presidential Circle was arraigned Monday on charges of inducing a chaste minor, being a minor in possession of alcohol, possession of marijuana a subsequent offense, a drug violation near a park and two counts of attempting to commit a crime.

Mr. Pothier was arrested Saturday after allegedly setting up a meeting with Officer Mark Chase, who was posing on the Internet as a pot-smoking West Coast girl who was moving to Warren. According to court documents, Officer Chase posted photographs of a woman clad in a bathing suit and another of her smoking marijuana. The fictitious girl’s Web page featured images of pot plants and background music that encourages marijuana use. Initially, Officer Chase posed as a 25-year-old woman. Then, after allegedly establishing an online relationship with Mr. Pothier, admitted to being 15 years old. When he was told the woman was much younger than he was initially led to believe, Mr. Pothier allegedly wrote, “as long as your cool and down to chill im down don’t tell any thing were to happen thats all.”

He also allegedly indicated during an online conversation that he would “go as far as you let me.”

As the investigation progressed, Officer Chase set up a meeting with Mr. Pothier for Saturday. Using surveillance, officers spotted Mr. Pothier in the area carrying a backpack. When Officer Chase asked him to come to an unmarked cruiser and then arrested him, Mr. Pothier reportedly said, “I figured this would happen.”

At his arraignment Monday in Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield, a judge ordered Mr. Pothier held in lieu of $25,000 bail. Since an assault case against him is also pending in the court, bail on those charges was revoked and he was not eligible for release. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim, although the girl he was allegedly planning to meet does not exist.

He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing May 14.

Court documents show the sting began after residents expressed concern over the number of local teenagers on MySpace who were using marijuana. Others told police they were concerned about depictions of underage drinking.

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Posted by: mpd61

This is good however, I would probably pose as a 13-14 year old for stronger case and to entice the older perps with priors or like offenses.

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Posted by: CJIS

NBC Dateline does stings with LE Agencies. They have busted some really Messed up people.

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Posted by: Delta784

Quote:

Originally Posted by npd_323 NBC Dateline does stings with LE Agencies. They have busted some really Messed up people.

They're also being sued by the family of one of those messed up people;

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4353781

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