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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, March 6, 2009

Arizonan charged in child sex sting

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

An O'ahu grand jury yesterday indicted a visiting 26-year-old Arizona man on two counts of using the Internet to set up a sexual encounter in Hawai'i with what he believed were two teenage girls.

Rangie Alangcas was charged with two counts of first-degree electronic enticement of a child and two counts of attempted promoting pornography for minors. If convicted, Alangcas faces a mandatory 10-year prison sentence on each of the electronic enticement charges.

Alangcas, also known as "Jay Domingo" and "eel_nana," was arrested Tuesday and released after posting $50,000 bail.

Alangcas is accused of chatting online since August with Internet users he believed were 14-year-old girls. During the chats, Alangcas said he wanted to engage in sexual conduct with the girls and directed them to pornographic Web sites, according to the state attorney general's office.

He then asked them to watch pornographic videos and arranged to meet them for sex, the attorney general's office said. Officials said Alangcas didn't know he was chatting not with young girls, but with undercover officers of the Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Deputy attorney general Albert Cook said he wasn't sure if Alangcas flew to Hawai'i specifically to meet the girls, or if he had other business here. Alangcas was arrested at the Pearl Kai McDonald's restaurant where he had arranged to meet them, Cook said.

The state has prosecuted about 30 people since the task force was formed in 2001. Cook said there are four cases pending trial.

He said predators continue to cruise the Internet despite knowing that agencies such as the task force are looking for them.

"We're doing our best to discourage people, but people keep looking for kids, so that's why we're here," Cook said.

The task force has a Web site, www.hicac.com, to help parents and young people recognize the online dangers and take protective measures.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.