By Sarah Tompkins, Detroit Free Press
Jul. 25--Five men have been arrested on charges of exposing themselves online to undercover officers they thought were teenage girls, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
The suspects, who range in age from 24 to 57, used Web cameras to show their genitalia to the officers during Internet chats, said Sheriff Warren Evans.
Arrested and arraigned were Scott E. Eckles, 36, of Westland; Waleed Wadie, 29, of Sterling Heights and Kirk A. Nagy, 24, of Romulus. They were being held in the Wayne County Jail on bonds ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
A 57-year-old Redford man was arrested Wednesday and a 29-year-old Detroit man on Thursday. Their names are being withheld pending arraignments today.
The suspects face charges ranging from illegal use of the Internet to soliciting a minor for immoral purposes. If they are convicted, prison sentences could reach up to 10 years, and Wadie, an Iraqi refugee, could face deportation.
Evans said officers patrol chat rooms daily, and the number of solicitations they get each month exceeds the number of arrests they are able to make. Parents can protect children by monitoring Internet activities, he said.
"We can't police ourselves out of this problem," he said. "We've got to be collaborative with parents."
Contact SARAH TOMPKINS at 313-222-6513 or stompkins@freepress.com.
-----
To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com
Copyright (c) 2008, Detroit Free Press
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Story Source: Detroit Free Press