Predator sentenced, parent acts responsible
Internet predator receives 17½ years:
Now this is a story about how responsible parents act.
After a Naperville father noticed his daughter spending more time than usual on the Internet, he installed parental monitoring software to keep a closer eye on her.
His action last summer may have kept the 13-year-old girl out of a convicted sex offender’s clutches.
A Salt Lake City man was sentenced Tuesday to 17¨ years in federal prison in Utah for persuading the girl to send him sexually explicit photos of herself during three months of cyberspace chats and phone calls.
Gerald Lee Wheeler, 41, was arrested last year in Utah after a multi-agency investigation. He pleaded guilty March 26 to one count of production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory 15-year minimum sentence.
Prosecutors said Wheeler was trying to get the teen to meet him in New York for sex in exchange for a modeling contract. Fortunately, her father intervened before the girl was physically harmed.
Of course Wheeler is a registered sex offender in Utah.
Anyway, do you see how easy it is to protect your kids? If not you shouldn’t be operating a computer in the first place.
Tags: child-porn, gerald-lee-wheeler, parentingRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Predators
2 opinions for Predator sentenced, parent acts responsible
BelchSpeak
Jun 6, 2007 at 11:52 am
17 years! Is that the longest sentence for an internet predator yet? Someone should be tracking this ;-)
They don’t play around in Utah, huh? I guess Utahns take this thing pretty seriously since Elizabeth Smart.
Trench
Jun 6, 2007 at 7:13 pm
He was sentenced to federal prison if that matters.
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