TOWN OF TONAWANDA — A 26-year-old Town of Tonawanda man found himself in a jail cell after allegedly using an Internet site and text messages to entice a 14-year-old girl into his car.
Richard A. Andres was charged with endangering the welfare of a child at 7 p.m. Monday after police found him parked with the girl in the area around Lincoln Park, according to police reports.
Police located his car after being given a description by the girl’s family and proceeded to question Andres. He told police the girl was his “new friend,” but denied knowing her name or where he picked her up. The girl initially told police she was 21, but when another officer arrived on the scene with a photograph to positively identify her, she told them her real age.
The girl also told police that the conversation inside the car quickly turned to sex, and that Andres has touched her waistline and tried to remove her pants, according to reports.
Andres and the girl communicated through text messages after meeting on an on-line profile Web site similar to MySpace. While the girl’s age left her more vulnerable to persuasion, youths aren’t the only ones who should be wary of meeting people on-line, said Lt. Nick Bado.
“I’ve been involved in cases where it was two consenting adults who met on the net, hardly know each other and end up spending the weekend together,” Bado said. “Then that ends with someone reporting a rape or sexual assault. It’s a dangerous activity trusting your personal safety with someone you don’t know.”
Town police work with the school district to give presentations on the pitfalls of on-line information sharing and the hazards of meeting people who can paint any picture of themselves they want with a mouse and keyboard. But for younger teens especially, there’s a sense of being smarter and tougher than the world, said Detective Lt. Bill Miller, with the town’s family offense unit and juvenile bureau.
“Kids think they’re indestructible,” Miller said. “They can know it’s out there, but they just have a different mindset. They say ‘It won’t happen to me.’”
This recent incident is proof that bad things can and do happen when impressionable youths are persuaded on-line. Even good parents can be overwhelmed by the way technology has expanded the ways predators can contact kids anonymously, with on-line profiles, chat rooms and text messages developing and language and culture all their own, Miller said.
But there are some things parents can do to stay ahead of the curve. Miller suggests keeping computers out of a child’s bedroom, in a more public, family space where their activities can be observed.
“The worst thing you can do is let a kid camp out on the computer in his or her room and not know what they’re doing,” Miller said.
Bado also suggests parents look into monitoring software that can track who children are talking to and where they go on-line.
Contact reporter Daniel Pye at 693-1000, ext. 158.
News Refresh
September 16, 2008
TUESDAY: Man caught with underage girl (4:02 p.m.)
- News Refresh
-
-
LAY OFFS: Seneca Gaming Corp. to cut 210 jobs
The struggling economy has evidently caught up with the local gaming industry.
The Seneca Gaming Corp. announced on Tuesday plans to lay off a total of 210 of the 4,800 employees who work at its casino operations in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca. - MONDAY: Mets, Bisons set to announce affiliation deal New York Mets executives are in Buffalo to announce that the Triple A Bisons will be the major-league team’s top farm club.
- FRIDAY: Police, fire departments offer disaster training courses (3:13 p.m.) The Lockport police and fire departments are offering a free community emergency preparedness course.
- FRIDAY: Four school districts holding meetings (1:25 p.m.) Four school districts in eastern Niagara County will be holding school board meetings next week.
- FRIDAY: Staffing agency opens payroll center in upstate NY (12:40 p.m.) Adecco, the world’s biggest staffing agency, is opening a new payroll operations center in suburban Rochester that will create 200 new jobs by 2010.
- FRIDAY: Ex-manager accused of theft from NY bowling group (9:58 p.m.) State police say a 54-year-old man stole as much as $200,000 from a state bowling association while serving as its manager.
- THURSDAY: AT&T expands 3G to NT (4:57 p.m.) AT&T Inc. is expanding its third-generation, or 3G, high speed wireless network many areas of Niarage and Erie counties.
- THURSDAY: Schumer to offer banks a deal (2:43 p.m.) Sen. Charles Schumer plans to offer a broad economic proposal for the government to offer a financial lifeline to those banks that are willing to renegotiate mortgages for those on the brink of losing their homes.
- THURSDAY: US woman killed in Yemen embassy attack (11:35 a.m.) The State Department has confirmed that a young American woman and her Yemeni husband were killed in a terrorist attack at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.
- THURSDAY: Vegas detective tells of encountering O.J. Simpson (11:24 p.m.) When police detective Andy Caldwell heard that O.J. Simpson was a suspect in a robbery, he said he couldn’t believe it.
- More News Refresh Headlines
-
LAY OFFS: Seneca Gaming Corp. to cut 210 jobs
The struggling economy has evidently caught up with the local gaming industry.
White House Attacks Romney on Birth Control
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Mo. Teen Gets Life Sentence for Killing Girl, 9
Lower-hassle Screening to Be Tested at Airports
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Helmet Camera Captures Calif. Fire Rescue
Worker Tells 911: Powell 'exploded the House'
Triple Win: Santorum Takes Minn., Mo., Colo.
Injured Marine Inspired by Homecoming
No Rape Charges Against Son of NYPD Commissioner
Egypt's Ruling Generals Play Risky Game With US
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
Cab Driver Helps Wis. Family Escape House Fire
Staff Removed at LA School During Abuse Probe
Runaway Goat Leads Police on Wild Chase
