Small town officer stings Internet predators

From his laptop computer in Dumfries, Officer John Chapman has helped to arrest some of the country’s most dangerous child sex offenders.

Posing as a 13-year-old boy, the Dumfries police officer chats with older men from places like South Carolina, Georgia, Quebec and as far away as Hawaii and London, who ask him to send photos of his fictitious persona.

Chapman just added two more names to his list of arrests — Peter L. Montgomery, 42, of Farmington Hills, Mich., and Steven Valder, 18, of Montezuma, N.Y.

Montgomery is accused of sending hundreds of images of child pornography to Chapman between Aug. 30 and Jan. 28.

Chapman said Montgomery asked the fictitious boy to invite friends over to his house to produce additional child pornography.

On Friday, the Michigan State Police searched Montgomery’s home while he was away and seized his computer, Chapman said. Police later tracked him to another house in Michigan and arrested him.

Montgomery is already listed on Michigan’s State Police Sex Offender Web site for a 1994 California conviction for lewd acts with a 14-year-old child, Chapman said.

In the second case, Valder first contacted Chapman on Nov. 2 from his home in Cayuga County, N.Y.

Again posing as a 13-year-old boy, Chapman said Valder sent him multiple images of child pornography, and admitted to having previous sexual relationships with minors.

Once he found an address for Valder, Chapman said he contacted the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office and started building a case against him.

On Jan. 8, the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office said they received a complaint about Valder from another child.

Working from information from that victim and the Dumfries Police Department, the Cayuga Cayuga sheriff’s department searched Valder’s home and found more than 1,000 images of child porn on his computer, according to Chapman.

After the search Valder admitted to sending the photos to Chapman, and to sexually molesting three juveniles in the Montezuma, N.Y. area, according to police reports.

For a small department with just 14 officers, Dumfries police officers are doing big things when it comes to catching Internet predators.

Between regular patrols, court dates and extraditing the men charged in sex offenses, Chapman chases Internet predators in his spare time.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has recognized him for his work.

“When you get ’em locked up there is no better feeling in the world, especially when you are helping poor victims. There is no better high than that. I think that is what drives me; knowing that the bad guy is going to get locked up and somewhere some little kid is going to be saved,” said Chapman.

The officer said it isn’t hard to catch a predator.

He simply logs into a Yahoo chat room — usually having to do with a video game — posing as a 13-year-old boy.

He said it doesn’t take long for an predator to start talking to him, and propositioning him for “cyber sex.”

“Their main goal is to get the kid on cam, when he does he can get still photos of the kid,” he said.

Part of why he is so dedicated to his work is because he has children of his own.

“It takes a certain type of person to do what John is doing. I could not do it; I could not sit there and deal with this type of person on the other end of the computer who is doing stuff or involved with little kids,” said Dumfries Police Chief Calvin Johnson.

Johnson said Internet crimes have been on the rise for a decade, and he hopes the state will make more money available to advance the search for online predators.

In the meantime, Chapman said parents can help to protect their children by not allowing them to have access to the Internet in their bedrooms, and by knowing who they talk to online.

As for the most recently charged; Montgomery is awaiting extradition to Virginia, where he faces 30 counts of child pornography distribution and one count of attempted indecent liberties with a child.

Valder has been charged with criminal sexual act in the first degree. He is being held on a $20,000 bond.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.