First man indicted for
luring girls over ’Net
is sentenced
A 27-year-old plumber's apprentice was sentenced yesterday to two months in jail and five years' probation for trying to lure underage girls over the Internet to meet and have sex with him.
Grant N. Detweiler, of Kaimuki, is the first person indicted by a grand jury and sentenced under a new state law passed by the Legislature in 2002 to prosecute people for the electronic enticement of children.
Detweiler, who used the screen name "hornyhapaboy" in Internet chat rooms, pleaded no contest in October to first-degree electronic enticement. The felony offense carries a maximum of 10 years and a $25,000 fine.
Circuit Court Judge Karl Sakamoto placed a long list of conditions on Detweiler's probation including that he attend a sex offender treatment program, not be alone with minors and stay away from the Internet.
Sakamoto told Detweiler, "You have preyed upon children."
Sakamoto said Detweiler had done wrong but had support in the community and had shown he could change.
"It appears you had been on the correct path most of your life and somehow (strayed)," said Sakamoto, adding that "the court concludes you can return to the correct path."
Deputy Attorney General Mark McConnell, a member of a federal and state task force monitoring Internet enticement, had asked that Detweiler be sentenced to 10 years.
Referring to a series of Internet conversations retrieved from Detweiler's computer, McDonnell said, "He shows a pattern of focused intent to meet people for sex, offering them money for sex."
McConnell, who quoted from at least nine separate chats with girls ranging in age from 13 to adult, said: "He is persistently the aggressor. ... This persistence is a cornerstone of why he is a danger to society."
Defense attorney Howard Luke told the court Detweiler "is extremely remorseful" and "will bear the stigma" of the crime like a "scarlet letter."
Luke said Detweiler needed rehabilitation, including treatment and community service, rather than prison.
Detweiler was caught in January 2003 when he entered an Internet chartroom and stuck up a conversation with "sassygirl1989," who was a state undercover agent.
McConnell read highlights of their lengthy chat. McConnell said that Detweiler initiated sexual conversation even after the agent identified herself as a 13-year-old girl.
McConnell said Detweiler's pre-sentence statement to the judge that he was not on the Internet to find sex was "not credible." He said he had a pattern of questions and persuading girls to meet him.
Quoting the chat with the agent, McConnell said Detweiler "asked his signature question, Are you horny?" and he told the girl, "To be honest, I want to have sex."
When he went to meet her at Kahala Mall the next day, he was arrested by state and federal agents, said McConnell.