Elementary Teacher Caught In Internet Sex Sting
Posted on Friday, 15 of August , 2008 at 8:07 pm
PASCO COUNTY, FLA—A Pasco County elementary school teacher has been arrested on charges of internet solicitation of someone he thought was a child.
Joel Matthew Cupp, a teacher at Trinity Oaks Elementary School, was chatting with two different undercover investigators with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office and one with the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit, believing he was talking to three young teenage girls. Cupp also allegedly exposed himself multiple times over a webcam to the “children.”The investigation was initiated by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office which requested assistance from the CyberCrime Unit when the investigators determined Cupp, 29, was located in Pasco County. The investigation was further coordinated once the investigators realized they were all chatting with the same suspect.
A search warrant was executed at Cupp’s New Port Richey residence and Cupp was taken into custody by law enforcement with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office and members of the Attorney General’s Tampa Bay CyberCrime Task Force, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Plant City Police Department and the New Port Richey Police Department. Cupp is the second school teacher arrested by the CyberCrime Task Force this month.Cupp will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit for the chats involving the two Citrus County Sheriff’s deputies. He faces three counts of online solicitation and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition, all third-degree felonies. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
The case involving the chats with the CyberCrime investigator is still under investigation, but could result in similar charges. 8-15-08
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Category: Children, Courts, Crime, Florida, Government, Internet, Police
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