Inland Empire Man Charged with Soliciting Maryland Girl Online

Reported by Deb Belt:

An Inland Empire man who carried on sexually explicit online conversations with a teenage girl in Maryland – and planned to fly out there to meet the girl -- has been arrested, according to police.

Police in Anne Arundel County, Maryland said in a news release their investigation began when the father of the victim learned his daughter was communicating with a man. Through interviews and forensic examinations of electronic devices, detectives learned the man had been communicating with the girl for two years, starting when she was 13-years-old.

During the conversations, the suspect solicited the child victim to send him sexually explicit videos and photographs, which she did, police said.

Detectives learned the suspect was from California and was planning to fly to Maryland in early April to meet the victim. 

Police said the suspect had booked a hotel room in the Annapolis area in order to have sex with the girl. The encounter between the suspect and the victim never happened because of the police investigation.

Police obtained an arrest warrant charging Murray Lee Chesak, 25, of Ontario with sexual solicitation of a minor. 

On May 28, the Anne Arundel County Police Child Abuse Unit coordinated the arrest of Chesak with authorities in California. He is currently incarcerated in the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, awaiting extradition to Maryland.

Online safety tips for kids

Police offer these Internet safety tips to families: 

• Make sure your child’s computer is placed in a family area.

• Make sure your child’s IM screen name doesn’t reveal any identifying information about a child especially things like a name, age, location, year of birth, school name, and year of graduation as Internet predators often use screen names to select their potential targets.
• If you don’t know how to work a computer, have your child show you how. Tell them to show you which sites are some good informational sites, and where they surf the web. 
• Ask your child if they have pictures on their Facebook page or on other social media sites.
• Tell your child to remove all pictures and personal information (address, school, age, etc.) or have them set their account to private. For teens, setting their account to private will allow them to keep their web page without soliciting personal information. If set to private, only their friends can see their profile. Also make sure that people on their friends list are only friends they have met and are close with.