Troopers arrested a 62-year-old Haines man Saturday on nine felony warrants stemming from a Virginia-based online sting operation intended to catch child predators.
The man is charged in Virginia’s Stafford County District Court with one count of using a computer to solicit a child under 15, four counts of exposing his genitals and four counts of “taking indecent liberties with children.”
Detective Darryl Wells of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department said the charges resulted from communications in an online chat room between the man and a person believed to be a 13-year-old child.
Police posed as the 13-year-old and communicated with the man from May 7 through last weekend, Wells said. The man exposed himself several times on a webcam, Wells said.
“It’s my understanding he was doing it at his house,” Wells said. “There is no indication that he was involved with any children in Alaska,” he added. It was unclear at press time whether the man has previously contacted minors elsewhere.
According to the man’s testimony in court, he is unemployed and living off monthly retirement benefits.
Trooper Andrew Neason arrested the man Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with help from the Haines Borough Police Department. “He was cooperative. There were no issues,” Neason said.
The man is being held on $50,000 bail at Juneau’s Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
Detective Wells said the state is pursuing the man’s extradition to Virginia to face the charges.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Department is part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI’s Innocent Images International Task Force.
“We don’t live online, but three or four times a year we go online and see what we can do,” Wells said.
The man has no criminal history in Alaska.