Police allege Md. man solicited sex with 'teen-ager' The
Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Va., Friday, April 20, 2001
The online 13-year-old was a Bedford County sheriff's deputy Police allege Md. man solicited sex with 'teen-ager' He also could be charged with a federal crime for crossing state lines to try to have sex with a minor. By JAY CONLEY
A Maryland man caught in a Bedford County [Va.] Internet sex sting has been charged with two felonies for allegedly soliciting sex from a sheriff's deputy who posed online as a 13-year-old girl. John Lewis Jacques, 50, a self-employed computer programmer and Web page designer from Bethesda, Md., was arrested Tuesday in a Virginia Beach parking lot by Virginia Beach police officers working in cooperation with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Mike Brown said. Jacques is charged with two counts of using a communications device to facilitate crimes against children, Brown said. Sheriff's Investigator Rick Witta said that since February, Jacques has sent e-mails, instant messages and Web-cam videos over the Internet to a Bedford County sheriff's deputy posing as a 13-year old girl. Brown alleged that twice during that time, Jacques described specific sexual acts that he asked to perform with the girl. He also said that while the communication took place in Bedford County, it's not unusual for meetings to be arranged in other locations. In this case, Virginia Beach was closer to where Jacques lived in Maryland, and he knew the area, Witta said. Witta said Jacques faces similar felony charges in Virginia Beach and Maryland. On Wednesday he was transferred from Virginia Beach to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail, where he is being held without bond. Brown said Jacques could also be charged with a federal crime for crossing state lines to try to have sex with a minor. The operation was part of the sheriff's Blue Ridge Thunder Internet task force, aimed at catching Internet pedophiles. SOURCE:
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