MySpace pal called a predator
A Polk County girl, 14, is found in a motel with a 39-year-old man.
By CATHRINE E. SHOICHET, Times Staff Writer
Published December 3, 2007
Detectives discovered an increasingly familiar crime scene when they kicked in the door of a Lakeland motel room Saturday: a 14-year-old girl with a 39-year-old man she met on MySpace.
It's a story that remains too common, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, despite increased attention to Internet sexual predators.
"We don't think this is his one and only victim," Judd said Sunday.
Richard Roland Gagnon Jr. of Fort Lauderdale met the girl online, talked with her on the phone and traveled across the state to sexually batter her several times, according to the Polk Sheriff's Office.
He knew the girl was 14, deputies said.
Parents must be ever vigilant, Judd said. Any child with access to the Internet and a cell phone can be a target of similar crimes.
"He broke down the inhibition of this 14-year-old girl. ... That's what predators and pedophiles do. They groom the children," Judd said.
And more and more, they make their first approach on the Internet.
"We have fought predators and pedophiles forever," Judd said, "but not in the volumes that we're having to deal with now, because it's so much easier for them to have access to the kids."
That means parents must closely monitor their children's Internet use, Judd said. They must prevent them from posting descriptive information about themselves and stop them from talking online with strangers.
Gagnon and the 14-year-old girl met on MySpace, then started instant messaging on Yahoo. They swapped cell phone numbers and began talking.
Since the summer of 2007, Gagnon had traveled across the state to meet the girl five times, Judd said, taking her to local motels four times and committing lewd acts several times.
The 14-year-old girl slipped out of her Polk County home around 11:30 p.m. Friday. She left a note for her mother, saying she would return in a week.
The mother called sheriff's deputies when she awakened and found the note about 7 a.m. Saturday.
Conversations with her friends led them to a Motel 6 in Lakeland, where detectives found Gagnon with the girl about 9:20 a.m.
He is charged with three counts of lewd battery, three counts of lewd molestation, enticing a child via the Internet, traveling to meet a minor and interference with child custody. He remained in the Polk County Jail without bail Sunday.
Gagnon's arrest comes two months after Florida's sex predator penalties became among the nation's toughest, creating a second-degree felony with up to a 15-year jail sentence for predators who contact children online and attempt to meet them for the purpose of sexual abuse.
The 2007 Cybercrimes Against Children Act also requires offenders to register e-mail and instant message handles with authorities.
In Florida, Gagnon previously had been arrested for theft and arson, but never sexual crimes, state records show.
Detectives are still investigating the details of Gagnon's interactions with the girl.
"We have to look at this evidence, and we've also got to see what else he may have done with other children," Judd said. "He will be in the center of our radar screen for a while."
Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 813 661-2454.
Man faces capital sexual battery charge
A 40-year-old Wesley Chapel man is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl for two years. John Robert Hatton, a manager with a Wesley Chapel Toyota dealership, was charged with capital sexual battery after the girl reportedly told deputies that Hatton assaulted her on separate occasions. The sheriff's report said the abuse began when the girl was 10, and she now has herpes, a sexually transmitted disease. Hatton, who lives at 3817 Oakwood Drive, confessed to deputies, the report said.
Times staff writer
Fast facts
Safe Surf Web site
As part of a campaign to teach children about the potential dangers of the Internet, Florida officials started the Operation SafeSurf Web site this year. For more information, go to www.safeflorida.net