The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Monday, June 28, 2004
Sheriff’s Internet Unit busts Air National Guardsman ---Southgate
resident had just come back from service in Iraq ---
Suspect also faces multiple child pornography charges
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Internet Crimes Unit made another
significant arrest this weekend, Sheriff Warren C. Evans announced
today. Late Friday, undercover deputies arrested John Price, 21,
a member of the Air National Guard, who had returned from service
just three weeks ago after spending four months in Iraq.
Price, a resident of Southgate, helped build bombs for American
fighter jets in Iraq . Investigators say Price showed up for a
meet he had arranged after two days of online chats with who he
thought was a 13-year old girl. He was met, instead, by sheriff’s
deputies. Price was arraigned on Saturday on charges of illegal
use of the Internet.
Price, who also had child pornography on a laptop computer he
brought to the meet, faces additional charges on those counts.
More disturbing, Evans said, is that Price allegedly planned to
use a computer Web camera to videotape his encounter with the young
girl, possibly for distribution.
“When he showed up at the meet, the suspect arrived with
a laptop computer and a web camera, which indicates his intent,” Evans
said. “Prosecutors have charged him with an additional count
of producing child sexually abusive materials, which is a 20-year
felony.”
The Internet Unit, which has made more than 50 arrests in the
past 18 months and has a 100 percent conviction rate, could be
forced to shut down at the end of September if budget cuts proposed
by county executive Robert Ficano are adopted.
“This arrest demonstrates how badly needed
this kind of enforcement is,” Evans said. “If this
unit ceases to exist, there will be no one in Wayne County equipped
to protect young children
who use the Internet.”
Price is being held at the Wayne County jail on $20,000 ten percent
bond. If convicted of all charges, he could face up to 44 years
in prison.
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