You know those Huntington Beach Police Department stings that have officers pose as underage girls on social networking sites to catch sexual predators? Guess Kevin Williams wasn't paying attention to those when he was back home in Irvine.
The student at Eckerd College in Pinellas County,
Florida, was picked up in “Operation Intercept,” a Sarasota County Sheriff's Department sting of men who allegedly shared sexy talk online with a “14-year-old girl” and arranged meetings that turned into undercover busts.
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Now, 21-year-old Williams is looking at the possibility of having to transfer his college credits to a Florida prison. He is accused of using a computer to solicit, which in the Sunshine State carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, and traveling to seduce or solicit, which can bring up to 20 years.
Williams used texts and the e-mail address km**********@ya***.com to communicate with as officer posing as a 14-year-old child, according to sheriff's investigators. The evidence against him includes this May 8 message that was said to come from Williams: “I mean I'd love to come over but I
only have enough money for gas there and back but not condoms, if that's
OK.”
That same day, Williams drove 70 miles from Pinellas County to Sarasota County–and into the waiting arms of cops.
The Irvine native joined an impressive lineup of suspects, whose ages ranged from 20 to 62. Among them, according to the sheriff's department, were: a 21-year-old who showed up with his 4-year-old nephew; a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Coast Guard Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG); a U.S. District Court clerk who allegedly contacted his date from the courthouse; and the founding director of an outreach for “artists, conservationists,
environmentalists, feminists, anti-abuse & sexual assault advocates,
pro-choice advocates, people of color, people dealing with HIV/AIDS,
& people celebrating diversity, teaching tolerance, & working to
improve civil & human rights & create progressive social
change.”
According to the affidavit, that last suspect contacted who he thought was a parent of a
14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son to inquire about sex with both or just the boy.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.