A New York man has been arrested after attempting to convince a teenage Wilton girl to meet and have sex with him.
On Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m., John V. Hurley III, 28, of 36 Church Street, Highland Falls, N.Y. was arrested on two counts of impairing the morals of a child and one count of enticement of a minor by computer for sex after surrendering to a warrant issued by Wilton police.
Hurley had been using Facebook to communicate with two 15-year-old Wilton girls and had sent them pornographic photos of himself, requesting they send him similar pictures of themselves. He is also alleged to have attempted to entice one of the girls to meet him for the purpose of sex.
According to Det. Scott Sear, “Facebook has filters that are assigned ... when they see certain activity happening, such as images and conversation, they notify the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, who notifies the ... Internet Crimes Against Children [representative] for that jurisdiction, and then we investigate it. They send us copies of the transcripts, the photos.”
“Then we build our case and forward it with an arrest warrant,” added Lt. Stephen Brennan.
Police said Hurley conversed with “many” girls over the course of June and July and the conversations were sexual in nature.
Hurley was contacted and informed there was an active warrant out for his arrest and that a surety bond would be set for him at $25,000, and was given a certain deadline to turn himself in and make arrangements. He arrived “straight away” with an attorney and cooperated, police said.
Hurley was released from the Wilton Police Department headquarters after posting bond and is scheduled to appear at Norwalk Superior Court on Oct. 5.
The charge of impairing the morals of a child is a Class B felony, police said, but the charge of enticement of a minor by computer for sex is a Class A misdemeanor if it is a first offense, which it appears to be, in this case.
Editor's Note: This story was updated since it was first posted with new material.