Reader comments
Messages on teen's cell trigger sex sting

I hope they change her phone number now! Technology allows us to have communication quickly with each other, which most of the time is a good thing. But sometimes something like this happens to remind us that not everyone on the other end of the phone or email is trustworthy. Applause for the mother who cared enough to check her daughter's phone, and also to the daughter who trusted her mother. Good parent/child relationships can do much to help our kids avoid serious problems.

I'm glad this worked out in favor of the girl, and we can get one step closer to getting creeps like this off the street. The lesson taught according to the story is to check the messages of your child. That is a good thing. However, I think it should go further. I see no reason why a person under driving age should have their own cell phones anyway. I have 2 kid at that age and refuse to allow them to have their own phones. Why do they need them? Why are our kids too far out of our site? The lesson should be, keep your kids closer. They don't need cell phones and they don't need to be so far away that they have to call in to let you know where they are. We should know this anyway.

Can you say Illegal Alien.

Deport these people now!

can you say...I didn't read anywhere in the article that stated this man was an illegal alien

Sure am glad to hear this one turned out well. Great job, Mom.

Can you say...:
Wow, talk about racial discrimination! Unless you know that this dude is an illegal immigrant, then your comment reeks of discrimination.

And just who are "these people" that we are to deport? All those people you do not like living next door to you?

dear Mr. "Can you say Illegal Alien" how judgemental of you, you don't have a CLUE if he is illeagle or not!

The fact is the guy was caught RED HANDED in a sting, it wasn't as if he was using "pornography" to satisfy his urges (which is wrong because then more child porn is made exploiting children). He wanted to literally have sex with an under-aged girl, he needs to be punished. He was told the girl was 13 and kept it up, THAT IS SAD! then again, how much was the 13 year old "leading him on" before the mother noticed the texting? Not to blame the child, but I am sure she isn't so innocent either in this, or he wouldn't have kept texting correct? HOWEVER, that doesn't take away the fact of Who the Adult was in the incident! I am so tired of this kind of stuff going on. They need to take 150% guilty parties of sex crimes and leave them on a deserted island to exploit each other all they want, and leave the rest of us alone. Note that, 150% sure Guilty people!

Why does a 13-year old need a cell phone in the first place? I have a 14-year old grandson who racked up 4,000 text messages last summer, a lot of them during nighttime. He didn't need a cell phone either. His parents confiscated it when they found out. There may be times when you could loan a child your phone, but I see no reason for him/her to have his own. As in many things that are a blessing, there is usually a down side. Hopefully, our girls are inexperienced at 13 and this girl may have inadvertently lead him on but she probably didn't have any idea about the hazards. Parents should go over their cell phone bills with a fine-toothed comb and investigate any questions. Our children should not be allowed to text message. "Everyone is doing it" is not a good reason to relent.

My 11 year old daughter would love a cell phone. She says, what if she needs to call me or there is an emergency? I tell her she shouldn't be anywhere without an adult nearby who could help her in any situation.

I want to know who calls my kids!! There should be no expectation of privacy when you are a kid.

FYI Pious (and judgemental) people - There are (by conservative estimates) over 600,000 illegal aliens who also happen to have commited violent felonys in our wonderful country. Gee, I wonder why the crime rate is going up?

what a rare coincidence.
accidently misdialed number???????
a girl textin' and havin' acces to a network
is so wrong in all matters.
bad thing in this stuff is the anonimity
nobody really is who they say they are.
a 13 year old so innocent and a guy that is so
guilty. c'mon people. do not believe everything you read or heard. the reality is different. all this media tryn' to sell magazines, newspapers and
parents so irresponsible.
never were a phisical contact and the police were the ones settin' up the encounter.
this is case of showin' something to keep us from seein' the reality of the inoperance of the authorities of keepin' the real bad guys behind bars
wake up!!!!

YOU GO MOM!!!
kids are to trusted and when sick people try to take advantage of kids there's no reason why mom or dad shouldnt step in. and kids shouldnt hide it. they all know what's wrong and right and when to tell mom or dad. cell phones are to common and there's to many mistakes with numbers for there not to be an incident like this. they're probably happening all the time all over. it's just plain disgusting

BUSTED!

This young lady should have immediately told her mother she was receiving unwanted messages even before it got to the sex requests.

These perverts are so brazen. They simply don't care about who they hurt as long as they get what they want.

I also agree youth that young don't need a phone.

I do not think technology is bad. Everyone who seems to point a finger and says bad, is missing all the good that can come of technology also. I would think that with text messages that someone could write some software that looks for keywords, and can log a report for parents to monitor. Mayby an email could be sent with all the text messages to an email account, and the parent could browse through them.

But just to say it is bad, I think someone is quick to judge.

Anonymous? Wake up! Kids need privacy! I'm glad you're not my mom. Give kids a break.

P.S. I agree kids don't need cell phones.

LA Guy, I kind of agree with you, this was a set up, BUT... The Guy was going to meet what he thought was a 13 year old girl "Supposedly told" she was 13, and was eager to have a sexual encounter with her. You are right though... In what circumstance did she dial a "Wrong Number", and how long did the texting continue that led him to continually text her to begin with? This "innocent girl" needs to take some of the blame here, But the fact is simple, HE IS AN ADULT, She Is UNDER AGE, it is simple as that. Nothing more to say, he is the "responsible age" and he should have known better.

Just wanted to add that the newspapers will not state whether a person in question is illegal -- they feel that including this information inflames tempters on both sides of the issue. I'm all for legal immigration, but making it a blanket deal opens the doors to all kinds of criminals (perhaps including this guy?). Check the police reports, folks. The majority of the crime in Utah is being committed by Latinos (it would be a safe guess that most are illegal).
On another note, kids don't need to text message. There are cell phones out there that allow the parent to program in a very few pertinent phone numbers (home, mom and dad cell, etc.). Beyond that, kids are just forming bad habits and wasting time -- and opening themselves up to dangerous situations.
Throw the book at child predators, no matter their legal status. I agree with utahkeith, put them all on a deserted island together, and away from our kids.

LA Guy, It doesn't matter if the 13 year old was egging the guy on or not. Even if she did not advertise her age, but most likely did or the guy would not have continued as aggressively as he did, the police certainly did.

Any adult that goes after a child like this one did is a predator.

As far as those who want to put perverts on a deserted island, be prepared for some of your relatives to pack their bags. Every one's family will be affected in some way.

I support probation and treatment unless there was aggressive predatory behavior or if there was any type of sexual contact, oral or otherwise, and then I would like to see some jail time. If any of those that were give a chance to correct their lives offend again, then lock them up and throw away the key.

He never should have let it go past her misdialing mistake..... he was at fault.

You can't expect the D'news to investigate the immigration status of criminals. That would contradict the pro-illegal immigration editorials they write about once a month.

It's surprising they published a name and photo. There are at least a dozen instances over the past year when they have totally hidden the identity of illegal aliens committing crimes (as reported by other Utah news outlets).

A high profile case like this makes it easier for ICE agents to investigate and place an immigration hold if needed, even legal immigrants could face deportation for a felony like this. Usually, Ogden has a sanctuary policy which forbids police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrested criminals.