Posted on 12/02/2005 3:02:38 PM PST by ncountylee
Officer Charged With Taking Indecent Liberties With Child
ARLINGTON, Va. -- An Arlington County police officer was arrested Friday for allegedly soliciting a minor via the Internet.
Police said Patrick Sherman, 26, was taken into custody without incident at his residence in the 1100 block of South Thomas Street in Arlington.
Sherman has been charged with one count of using a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children, a class 5 felony that carries a maximum penalty of one to five years in prison or one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500.
The investigation into Sherman's online activities began when he allegedly, unknowingly made contact with an Alexandria detective working on with the Northern Virginia-D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force in early November.
ICAC is a federally funded task force made up of specially trained investigators from several Northern Virginia, D.C. and federal law enforcement agencies.
During October and November, ICAC investigators carried out an online sting operation during which they assumed the profiles of pre-adolescent teenagers and visited common teen chatrooms.
The investigator that Sherman allegedly made contact with had posed under the fake online profile of a pre-adolescent teen.
Online predators would then attempt to solicit sex from these "teens."
Police say Sherman went online and engaged in conversations of a sexual nature with the undercover officer.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbc4.com ...
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