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DA Cracks Down On Pedophiles Using Text Messages

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Feb 11, 2009 4:33 pm US/Mountain

DA Cracks Down On Pedophiles Using Text Messages

DENVER (CBS4) ― A Colorado sheriff's deputy is among the latest to be arrested on charges involving text messaging to lure teens for sex. As CBS4 reported last year, pedophiles are moving from computers to cell phones to arrange liaisons with teens.

The deputy arrested, Hubert Teague, had been working in the Bent County, Colorado jail in Las Animas in the southeastern part of the state. It was Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey's investigation that led to his arrest.

A court affidavit claims Teague asked an undercover investigator posing as a teenage girl for a photo. The document states Teague allegedly typed, "If I can say withing (sic) bein (sic) too bold ... nice breasts." Then adding, "(I) am just a horny old man."

From the computer the exchange moved to a cell phone before the arrest.

"Many of these predators start out online," Storey said. "They know what's going on, they groom, then they want to switch to the cell phone."

The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office has arrested 83 online sex offenders last year. Many of them switched to cell phones to seal the deal with their victims.

They found condoms, a camera and sex toys in the bag of a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) employee who was arrested last year. The arrest came with the help of a computer program called RADAR. It allows parents and law enforcement to monitor text messaging.

"I heard they were having problems to cell phones and I sat down with my technical team and I asked, 'Can we repurpose some of the things that we are doing to solve this problem.' And that's how we came up with My Mobile Watchdog," Robert Lotter with My Mobile Watchdog/RADAR said.

Teague has now been fired from his job in Bent County, according to the sheriff. His arrest was the 17th the Jefferson County district attorney's online unit has made so far this year -- and it's only February.

The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office received a $25,000 donation on Wednesday from My Mobile Watchdog for use in its Internet child sex offender investigations.

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