SPOTSYLVANIA – From the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Roger Harris announced the arrest of four suspected pedophiles, resulting from an undercover cyber operation. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office began a Unit, within the Criminal Investigations Division, dedicated to the detection and apprehension of predatory suspects who troll the web in search of child victims. Sheriff Harris noted; “The Internet Crimes Against Children Unit has had a great deal of success, since itscreation and has brought several suspects to justice over the last three years”.
These latest arrests were made within the past three months, where adult males were soliciting underage children for sex on the internet chat rooms. Sheriff Harris further related, “These subjects target young children and attempt to establish relationships with them in the different on-line mediums. The goal of these suspects is to “Groom” the children, convincing them to meet and then perpetrate their criminal acts”. Each of the suspects arrested, were charged with Felony counts of Indecent Liberties and Using a Communication System to Facilitate Certain Offenses Involving Children.
The latest suspects arrested are Tyler Martin, 21 from Richmond; John Howell, 44 from Fredericksburg; Toby Parker, 46 from Manassas and Robert Catanzaro, 55 from Fredericksburg. Each of the suspects traveled to Spotsylvania County, to meet with an underage female, with the intent of having sexual contact. The underage child in these cases however, turned out to be an undercover Spotsylvania Detective who was communicating with the suspect while online.
