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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Maui man arrested in online child sex sting

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Thomas M. Schnepper got a big surprise when he rode his motorcycle to Kahului Airport Feb. 15 to meet a 15-year-old girl he had been talking to for months on the Internet, police said.

He had persuaded "Mandy" to fly over from O'ahu for a sexual encounter, but the "girl" turned out to be an undercover federal agent, and Schnepper was arrested.

The 37-year-old Lahaina man has been charged with first-degree sexual assault.

The arrest was the first by the Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, comprised of state, local and federal law enforcement agencies in Hawai'i. The group, one of 30 such units across the country, was formed last year to spearhead the fight here against a growing danger to children.

"Children receive sexual solicitations on the Internet just like on the streets," U.S. District Attorney Ed Kubo Jr. said yesterday in announcing the arrest. "Cyber predators move into family homes without their parents' knowledge through chat rooms."

Half the children between 12 and 17 years old nationwide — approximately 10 million children — had access to the Internet in 1997, and that number is expected to rise to 70 million by 2005, Kubo said. The growth of the Internet is a great educational tool, but it is also being used by pedophiles to exploit children, he said.

According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Schnepper began chatting on the Internet with "Mandy" on Dec. 2. After several conversations, the communications became more sexually explicit.

Mandy was actually a special agent working an undercover, online investigation with the Wyoming attorney general's office. Schnepper sent nude photos of himself and of underage girls having sex with older men and asked Mandy to send nude photos of herself to him, according to the complaint.

When Mandy said she was coming to O'ahu with her grandmother, Schnepper offered to pay for her plane fare to visit him on Maui and have sex, and the trap was set.

Schnepper was arrested with a set of handcuffs and two condoms in his pockets.

State Deputy Attorney General Mark McConnell, head of the Hawai'i task force, said the units are making a difference. Just this month, two teenage Kaua'i girls were lured to California by an Internet predator, who was arrested by the San Diego task force, McConnell said.

A state Web site has been set up to help teachers and parents protect children and teach children to protect themselves.

"Internet crimes against children have grown dramatically over the last few years," McConnell said. "Our goal is to build the capability to fight the problem."