Serviceman arrested in Internet sting

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

An active-duty serviceman in Honolulu has been arrested under a new law that prohibits using the Internet to target children for sexual activity.

The man, whose name was not released, was arrested Friday. The arrest occurred as the result of a training exercise on how to intercept Internet predators, said state Attorney General Earl Anzai.

Anzai said members of the newly created Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force were ending a week-long training class Friday afternoon when one of the members was contacted by a man who believed he was talking to a 13-year-old girl. Anzai said the man eventually asked the person he thought was the girl to meet him for sex.

Members of the training class, which included personnel from the attorney general's office, and the Honolulu, Kaua'i and Maui police departments, notified the FBI, U.S. Customs Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, and together they arrested the man Friday afternoon at the designated meeting place, Anzai said. He said the man's computer also was seized.

This was the first arrest under the law that was created by the 2002 Legislature that prohibits the electronic enticement of children. Anzai said there were several other suspicious persons who contacted the task force during the training session.

"The large number of suspicious contacts indicates that the Internet is being widely used for improper purposes," he said.

Anzai said parents and children who want to learn more about protecting themselves from Internet predators can log on to the task force's Web site: www.hicac.com.