Police warn Honolulu police Detective Letha DeCaires has advice for parents on how to protect their child from predators over the Internet. It comes after the arrest this week of a 30-year-old librarian who allegedly lured a 14-year-old Oregon girl to Hawaii for sex through e-mail and chat room messages.
against predators
on the ’Net
CrimeStoppers offers tips to
protect children as details of
a juvenile sex case emergeBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"Open discussion (between the child and parent) is the best preventive tool," said DeCaires, a coordinator for CrimeStoppers Honolulu.
The Internet is the best and fastest shopping market for pedophiles to prey on new victims, DeCaires said. She advised parents to question their kids as to whom they are chatting with on the Internet.
"The process we're trying to teach teenagers is to be problem solvers and to integrate values they've learned throughout their lives," said DeCaires, who will publish an article titled "Chat Room Liars" in the Hawaii Crime Bulletin.
Lando Millare, a librarian, was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile.
According to a court document, police found Millare and a 14-year-old girl in his Kalihi apartment on Kopke Street on June 19. An FBI affidavit did not specify whether Millare and the juvenile had sex.
FBI agents seized a computer, which is believed to have been used to communicate with the minor, from Millare's home.
According to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Lynelle Torikai, Millare and the 14-year-old girl from Medford, Ore., began communicating on the Internet via e-mail and chat room messages in August 2000. The juvenile told officials she was introduced to Millare through another Internet friend.
On the Internet, Millare called himself "Silver Knight" and told the victim he was 17 years old, Torikai said.
On numerous occasions via the Internet, Millare and the 14-year-old girl discussed having sexual intercourse, according to the affidavit.
On March 20, one of the e-mail messages contained a note from the juvenile stating, "may I please tell you THANK YOU now for letting me lose my virginity w/you and for the really hot sex we are gonna have together."
The 14-year-old told police she deceived her parents by creating a fictitious friend and her father, Torikai said. She told her parents she would be staying with them in Hawaii.
On May 19 she received an airplane ticket and an itinerary for a trip to Honolulu via Express Mail sent by Millare, according to the affidavit.
Both met in Los Angeles and boarded a flight to Honolulu.
Millare and the 14-year-old girl arrived in Honolulu at about 9:50 p.m. June 19.
The girl's father called and gave the Honolulu Police Department an address after the teenager failed to contact her parents upon her arrival. Later that night, police arrived at Millare's home.
The 14-year-old was taken to the Police Department and returned to Oregon.