FORTY ONE YEAR OLD BRONX MAN CHARGED AS INTERNET PREDATOR SEEKING TO HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 41 year old Bronx man is being charged with attempted rape and other offenses in connection with an alleged attempt to have sex with someone whom he believed to be a thirteen year old girl from the Midwest.

Don Stephens, of 1218 Boston Road, was arrested last night when he arrived at the Milford Plaza Hotel in Manhattan to allegedly to engage in sexual activity with an undercover investigator whom he presumed to be a thirteen year old Internet “chat buddy” from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Stephens has been charged with Attempted Rape in the 2nd degree and Attempted Dissemination of indecent material to minors in the 1st degree. Both are Class E felony offenses punishable by a maximum sentence of up to four years imprisonment. Additional charges may be filed pending a forensic examination of the defendant’s computer for images of child pornography.

Stephens was arrested by Detective Owen Soba with NYPD’s Computer Investigations and Technology Unit as a result of an investigation by Special Agent Eric Szatkowski with the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Justice. Szatkowski was online, posing as a thirteen year old girl, in an Internet chat room entitled “I Love Older Men.” The defendant allegedly solicited sex from his new under age “chat buddy” and asked her to send him email containing nude photographs. During the chat, the “girl” said that she would be accompanying her mother to a convention in New York. Stephens then allegedly arranged to meet the victim at her hotel in order to have a sexual encounter.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Robert Bergida.