Editorial: Judge's sentence should send dire warning to online sex predators

Apparently  there was a sting in Yavapai Arizona called the "Yavapai 6" in which the police were doing undercover work in chat rooms that children frequent. In one of those chat rooms, Tagged.com website came across six child sexual predators. They all talked to who they thought was a thirteen year old girl named Brenna. The discussions were sexual in nature and Brenna was pursued by these predators. They also tried to hook up with her. If this sting didn't occur and a child on Tagged.com was being pursued by these predators she would have been abused. There are those who are really mad at their convictions because they were really talking to an undercover police officer.  They weren't talking to a real child. The reality is that they thought they were talking to a thirteen  year old girl who they were pursuing in a sexual manner. The Judge in these cases has set a precedent

for future cases. I am sure we will be seeing these cases for a long time. I suspect that these defendants will all appeal their cases. I'll update stories as they come. Rosie
http://campverdebugleonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=73&ArticleID=34277

4/7/2012 1:07:00 PM Editorial: Judge's sentence should send dire warning to online sex predators
One of the things hoped for in a criminal sentencing is that the sentence imposed will have a deterrent impact on others pre-disposed to committing the same crime. It seldom works out that way, but certainly the prison sentence ordered Friday by Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Michael Bluff for one of the so-called "Yavapai 6" online sex predators should raise some eyebrows. Friday, Judge Bluff sentenced "Yavapai 6" defendant Samuel Bassett to 329 years in prison, of which 205.5 years will be served consecutively. In other words, it is a life sentence for a crime in which Bassett did not kill anyone. He did not assault anyone. He did not rape anyone. He did not even touch anyone. His crime was a continuous sex-fueled online dialogue with an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. Some would say there was not a victim in this case. Others would say there very well could have been a victim if the object of Bassett's online attention really was a 13-year-old girl and he followed through on what he told her he wanted to do with her. At the extreme of the defense logic in this case, Bassett himself was the victim of police entrapment. Even at his sentencing, Bassett chose to portray the detective as being under-handed and manipulative vs. him taking any responsibility whatsoever for his actions. Typical criminal mentality. What's important here is what you do online very well can be prosecuted as a crime. As is clearly evidenced by Judge Bluff's sentence, online sex predation is every bit the criminal offense05 years. as is physically doing the things you say you plan to do in online postings. They're not harmless words. It's not some victimless fantasy game. It's a crime. And you can go to prison for it for a very long time ... 2