Deputies with the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office have arrested a Viola man on the charge of Internet stalking of a child, a class B felony.
Lester Lee Hendrix, 61, was arrested Thursday after a 30 minute conversation with an investigator at a public place in Faulkner County.
According to FCSO Major Andy Shock, Hendrix came to Faulkner County with the specific purpose of having sex with an undercover officer, her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.
Shock said an undercover investigation began two and a half weeks ago online.
"After some correspondence with this subject, he was wanting to meet with our investigator," Shock wrote in a media release.
Shock said the sheriff's office has investigators whose main job duties are working on these types of Internet crimes.
"We have some dedicated investigators who stalk internet predators who choose to stalk children," he said.
A search was conducted on Hendrix's vehicle and at his home in Viola, according to FCSO. His computer and other accessories were seized and placed into evidence.
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I'm sure there's going to be lots of positive comments on this one. I'll reserve my comments about him until after I calm down a little. However, "Shock said the sheriff's office has investigators whose main job duties are working on these types of Internet crimes." I have to feel kinda sorry for the investigators that have to do this. Sure it would feel great to put a piece of trash like this behind bars, but it's got to be pretty gut-wrenching going through the setup act.
I agree..
This would be a very hard job, but thankfully there are people willing to do it to keep our children safe.
Spot on General.
Spot on General.
Guns
On a whole I usually don't like guns or cowards with them. In this case I see how one could be a handy tool if it was my family he was after. Now before someone bust my chops let me say this. I did not say all gun owners are cowards. All I said was I hated a coward with one.
One Less Perve
On our streets sadly it is only a drop in the bucket.
I am curious does anyone think that there was always as many perverts around as there seems to be or has TV, movies and the internet help cultivate and or facilitate this kind of behavior.
Well I know without the internet it would be alot harder to accomplish but......
Very true
I would be more inclined to think that the internet has aided in supplying material to those with these kinds of desires. It is also a possibility that the constant access to this has increased their desire to move from viewing to participating but that could be widely debated.
It's like the toe-sucker, perhaps looking at feet on the internet all day wasn't enough to satisfy his desires and so he took his desires public in order to try to find a participant. Perhaps he had been looking at pictures and videos of feet for years and simply viewing ceased to quell his appetite.
In the past, those with these kinds of desires had no easily-accessible medium in which to have access to such material or ways to discretely contact potential victims without raising alarms. The only venue to meet and speak with potential victims was either through a family/friend connection or try contacting unknown parties in public. Now, with the widespread use of the internet by those of all ages, these predators can use the internet as a medium to discretely contact and groom potential victims all too often without the parents' knowledge.
Parents need to be very aware of their children's internet activity. If you wouldn't let your child talk privately with some stranger in Wal-Mart then you don't need to let them talk privately with someone on the internet. Who knows what your child is telling them without your knowledge. Perhaps they told the predator where they live, what time they get home from school, and their parents' work schedule. It's a scary world filled with scary people.
I echo General's sentiment about what a disgusting job it must be to spend your days communicating with these sickos but they are doing a wonderful thing. Each time they identify a predator and win a conviction they add one more name to the list of registered sex offenders who are more closely watched from then on out. Of course they can't catch everybody but hopefully the fact that our law enforcement officers are using the internet to hunt them down will make these predators think twice about going through with their plans. Who knows how many children have been protected because the predator that was trying to setup a meeting with them ended up backing out for fear of it being a sting.
Keep up the good work, detectives!
Well, there have always been perverts, but it does seem
to be getting worse. Maybe this is why. Long, but worth your time if you can watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDFb3Hx1DK8
I may be wrong but this is my thought...
I think that also more people are coming forward and reporting these crimes. Its not covered up or left unreported due to embarrassment or to avoid shame on the victim. There is more help and understanding now.
The internet/tv/movies does give the perves more access and probaly does help cultivate and or facilitate this kind of behavior. But in turn we now have more forms of media to report these crimes so we hear more about them. In the past you would not see this reported on the news/radio/newpaper, because it just was not something people talked about.
I think there have always been perves out there commiting these crimes that not alot has changed just the publics view and that people now discuss it and the media will report it.
:)
I do believe....
....this is a case for court-appointed, medical castration.