Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
John A. Fagerberg used the computer subscriber network America Online to send ``hard-core images of children engaged in various sexual acts,'' Fairfax police spokeswoman Cheryl Watson said.
He also sent messages on the computer service to the fictitious woman expressing his desire to molest her three children, according to a police statement that quoted sealed Juvenile Court documents.
``Hard to believe, isn't it?'' Watson said.
The detective who posed as the woman was part of a Los Angeles-based federal task force trying to trap online child pornographers and sexual predators.
Fagerberg, of Clifton, was arrested at his office late Monday. Police seized computers, files, pornographic movies, magazines and documents from Fagerberg's house and office at software developer Bytex Inc. in Herndon, police affidavits filed in the case said.
Police announced the arrest Wednesday, after Fagerberg was released on his own signature. A preliminary hearing in juvenile court will be scheduled within a few days, court officials said.
Fagerberg was charged with distributing child pornography and using an electronic means to distribute child pornography. Together, the charges could carry up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The 10-member task force includes FBI agents, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Donohue said from Los Angeles. She would not say how many arrests the task force has made.
Fagerberg communicated with the fictitious woman for several weeks before authorities arrested him, Donohue said. She would not provide details of how agents established contact with Fagerberg.
His arrest is similar to federal prosecutions that grew out of an FBI undercover campaign called ``Innocent Images.''
In that investigation, FBI agents posed as teen-agers and corresponded with several men. The operation was revealed in September, after it netted more than a dozen arrests.
James Childress, a 32-year-old patent lawyer from Arlington, was arrested last spring when he went to a Maryland mall to meet an agent who posed as a 14-year-old girl as part of the Innocent Images probe.
In an unrelated case, a former airline pilot, Eric Blaylock, faces trial in Arlington in February on charges that he used America Online to traffic in child pornography.
Pam McGraw, spokeswoman for Vienna-based America Online, said the company was not involved in the Fagerberg case. The company restated its policy on illegal activity in a September letter to subscribers, she said.
``America Online has 4 million members - that's the size of any large city in America. Certainly, with 4 million people, you are going to have some people who break the rules,'' she said.
by CNB