Task Force Looking for Possible Victims of Magna Man in Net-Sex Case
By Wendy Leonard Deseret Morning News
The Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is looking for possible victims of a Magna man accused of trying to arrange a sexual liaison with what he thought was an underage girl.
Authorities know of at least one underage girl who may have been contacted more than once by the man and fear there may be more, as he admitted to chatting online with “a lot of people,” some of them younger than 18.
Bryan Daniel King showed up Friday to an arranged meeting location in a Salt Lake City neighborhood where he believed he would be meeting a 14-year-old girl he had met in an Internet chat room. An undercover officer, posing as the girl, had set up the appointment, for which King said he had sexual intentions.
ICAC agents arrested King, 27, that night and found he had brought his 1-year-old and 4-year-old children with him. Documents filed in 3rd District Court on Monday indicate he had said the children would be accompanying him but that they belonged to his roommate.
The children were handed over to their mother after King was arrested.
“Of the countless arrests that we’ve made of Internet predators, this is the first time a predator has showed up with the children in tow,” Ken Wallentine, the chief of law enforcement for the Utah Attorney General’s Office told the Deseret Morning News on Saturday.
King’s wife later told police that he “spends a lot of time on the Internet” and that she caught him reading incest stories online and told him to stop, according to court documents. She consented to a search of the family computer, which was taken as evidence in the case, along with a laptop, a few CDs and two digital cameras found in the house.
Court documents state that when police arrived to search the home, King was still signed into Yahoo Instant Messenger.
King told police at the time of his arrest that he lied to the girl about his age and about his children because he was worried about identity theft, according to court documents. He also said he did ask to meet the girl for sexual purposes but that on his way to the meeting place, he reconsidered.
Court documents state that “while (King) was stuck in traffic he started to think that he should not go through with meeting her for the purpose of sex. … He thought about how young she was and how old he was and that it was just not right.”
When he arrived, he told police he was going to tell the girl the truth and not go through with the sex.
King admitted to needing therapy and told police he had met approximately 20 women in person whom he originally met online, through chat rooms, and according to court documents, “they were all over the age of 18.” He reported to police that he had met his wife online when she was 16. They were married in 2005 and have two children.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office released King’s screen names on Monday in hopes of generating more leads in the case. A spokesman said anyone who has chatted with “Sooner–freak–623″ and “Darby– 623″ or “Daniel King” should contact ICAC authorities at 801-281- 1255.
King told police he met a 15-year-old girl at The Gateway two years ago and that they met about seven times in person and had sex on two occasions, according to court documents.
King was charged Monday with one count of enticing a minor over the Internet, a second-degree felony. He remains at the Salt Lake County Jail and is being held on $100,000 bail.
Contributing: Ben Winslow
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com
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