COURT OKs PHONY-KID STINGS ON WEB PERVS

PFMLIT ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS, ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS, CONNECTICUT, General, GOOD POLICING CATCHES SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS, INTERNET OFFENDER CASES

The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that police can charge alleged Internet predators with attempting to sexually assault children, even when the intended victim turns out to be fictitious.  The ruling comes in the case of John Sorabella III, a Stow, Massachusetts, man arrested in an Internet sting in March 2000.  He was charged with attempted second degree sexual assault when he showed up at a shopping plaza in New Britain to meet what he thought would be a 13 year old girl but instead was a New Britain Detective who was trolling the Internet in search of sexual predators.  Sorabella was convicted of 10 counts and sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years' probation.  

(Hartford, Connecticut)