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A New York City Police Department Police Officer, formerly assigned to the 114th Precinct in Astoria as the precinct's Youth Officer , has pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to meet for sexual relations a person he had met online and who he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. The boy was actually a New York City Police Department undercover detective assigned to its Computer Crimes Squad.
"The defendant has now admitted that he sent instant messages utilizing America Online and made arrangements to meet an individual who he believed was a 14-year-old boy to have sexual relations", Queens district attorney Richard Brown said. "The intended victim was, however, actually an NYPD undercover detective conducting a 'sting' operation. The case underscores the crucial importance of Internet surveillance initiatives by law enforcement to protect children from sexual predators and should serve as a warning to parents to closely monitor their children's Internet access and activities."
Brown identified the defendant as Michael Costello, 39, a former NYPD police officer who resides in New York City. The defendant, who was arrested in April 2004, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt, who indicated that she would sentence the defendant on Dec. 15 to six months in prison,10 years of probation and order him to enroll in a sex offender program.
Brown said that the defendant admitted that, while at home on March 24 he contacted the undercover detective who he believed to be a 14-year-old boy via the Internet using the screen name Softmouth4U and advised the detective that he was interested in having sex. The defendant also sent a photograph via E-mail, stating that it was a picture of himself, and invited the detective to have sex with him in his car, saying his car had tinted windows.
10-25-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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